MANHATTAN, MT. — If you’ve ever gotten firewood from a Town Pump, KOA, or local campground, that wood likely came from S & D Firewood. Based in Manhattan, S & D has been keeping folks warm for more than 30 years. Just how much wood are they producing each season?
“About 4,000 cords of firewood. And then bundles — 3,000 pallets’ worth, and there are 72 bundles on a pallet. So, a lot,” said Kristy Thompson.
Thompson is the manager of S & D. She knows a thing or two about firewood, considering she’s been cutting it for the past 10 years. Just over a week ago, she said:
“We just got our yard full. We just got our last log truck in for this part of the season.”
But last Tuesday, during those intense lightning storms, Thompson got a call — and probably some of the worst news you can imagine for the manager of a firewood yard.
“It was a living nightmare. I mean, it’s our worst nightmare. I couldn’t even believe it was true,” she said.
Thousands of tons of wood were engulfed in flames.
“I literally could not see anything but flames. I could see it from Belgrade,” Thompson said.
With help from neighbors, former co-workers, and volunteer firefighters, they were able to get the suspected lightning-strike fire under control. Over the last week, Thompson and the S & D crew have been on around-the-clock cleanup duty and fire watch.
But strong winds Sunday night caught an ember.
“And it just caught the rest of that section of the lot on fire,” Thompson said.
As of Wednesday, aerial firefighters confirmed the fire was completely extinguished using thermal imaging technology. But the smell of ash and piles of charred wood still linger.
Thompson said they lost over half of their firewood and at least $130,000 worth of inventory.
Although things seem grim, she’s trying to remain positive. With the remaining charred wood:
“We’re going to offer it to customers for free. If people want to come up and cut it themselves with a chainsaw, they can,” Thompson said.
WATCH: Large Manhattan fire destroys firewood company
She said she’s grateful for the community members who came together to help fight the fire. As of now, S & D is back to business as usual.
“Luckily nobody was hurt. There was never any damage to anybody’s equipment or anything like that. So it could have been far worse. We’re definitely counting our blessings,” she said.
