Flames destroy old Georgia Pacific plant prompting state investigation

Fire lit up the sky Thursday as flames devoured an old particle board plant in Dooly County.

Vienna firefighters got a call at about 8 p.m. that the old Georgia Pacific facility off Ga. 41 was ablaze.

“We found a large building fully involved and had a structural collapse,” Vienna Fire training officer John Sherrer said.

Crews called in aerial ladders from Cordele and Americus to take a defensive stance with up to 75 firefighters circling the warehouse, estimated to be about 200,000 sq. ft., Sherrer said.

The roof collapse sent burning embers flying, igniting pine trees planted decades ago to help catch the sawdust.

“That place is done,” Tashia Perkins Hughes’ son said as she was videotaping the raging fire.

Georgia Pacific closed the plant years ago and it sold to another lumber company before recent plans to turn it into a bio fuel manufacturing facility, Dooly County EMA director Kenny Calhoun said.

Security working the site reported the fire.

“They heard a loud explosion and when they looked the whole building was on fire,” Calhoun said.

Sherrer said the state fire marshal’s office is investigating the cause of the fire, which had not been determined as of Friday morning.

“We don’t have any evidence of an explosion,” Sherrer said. “What they probably heard was the structure collapsing and the roof coming down.”

No power was hooked up to the part of the plant that burned, which used to house the sawdust and shavings.

Crews fought the fire for more than five hours and were called back in the middle of the night for hot spots.

Mutual aid firefighters from Byromville, Pinehurst, Dooly County and Drayton also assisted.

Firefighters were able to contain the fire to one building, which was still burning Friday morning in places crews could not get to.

“We’re just going to let that burn out,” Sherrer said.

The state fire inspector was at the scene overnight and will likely be back to comb through the rubble once it cools to try to determine what sparked the blaze, he said.

Georgia Insurance and Fire Safety Commissioner Ralph Hudgens said: “Because of extensive damage to the structure, my fire investigator had to suspend the investigation for the day.”

No one was hurt in the massive fire.

Anyone with information about the fire is urged to call the Georgia Arson Hotline at 800-282-5804.

This story was originally published December 1, 2017 at 8:42 AM with the headline "Flames destroy old Georgia Pacific plant prompting state investigation."