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Serving Northern St. Louis County, Minnesota

Shop facility a total loss

Tuesday blaze sparked by wood kiln

Jodi Summit
Posted 3/23/17

SOUDAN- There were plenty of thoughts racing through Greg “Dusty” Dostert’s head as he watched his shop building engulfed in flames.

But what was hurting him the most, he said, was knowing …

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Shop facility a total loss

Tuesday blaze sparked by wood kiln

Posted

SOUDAN- There were plenty of thoughts racing through Greg “Dusty” Dostert’s head as he watched his shop building engulfed in flames.

But what was hurting him the most, he said, was knowing that his 1951 Oliver Row Crop tractor was still sitting inside.

“It’s a year older than I am,” he said. “It belonged to my grandfather.”

Fire fighters from Breitung, Tower, and Vermilion Lake were on scene at the fire on the morning on March 21. The shop building was far enough away from the Dostert home, but there were concerns about it spreading to the surrounding woods, as well as keeping flames away from the fuel oil tank sitting behind the building.

The 40 ft. by 50 ft. steel-sided building housed Dostert’s woodworking shop, along with cold storage for some of his heavy equipment. The fire started in the wood-drying kiln, used for lumber that had recently been planed. The fire spread into the adjacent wood storage area, which Greg said held as much as 3,000 board feet of drying pine lumber, along with smaller amounts of birch, cedar, and butternut.

The fire was discovered by Greg’s son Nate, who was working in the building.

“Nate saw flames in the wood-drying kiln,” Greg said.

Nate ran out of the shop and dialed 911, then ran up to the house to get Greg.

The two were able to get his skid-steer, one tractor, and the riding lawn mower out of the cold storage section of the building, before the fire spread. They were unable to get the antique tractor pulled out.

Nate, a member of the Breitung Fire Department, soon returned to the scene in his gear, and worked on scene as the fire crew kept the fire under control.

Greg built the shop back in 2004, and used it for his woodworking and heavy equipment businesses. He lost three wood planers, five chainsaws, and tens of thousands of dollars oo other power and hand tools. He said he spends most of his free time and evenings working in the shop, and in fact had spent the previous evening doing a thorough “spring-cleaning” out there.

Greg said he was impressed with how well the Breitung and Tower fire departments worked together on scene, and said such cooperation will only grow stronger as the two departments move to a single organization.