The Lake County Highway Department shop that burned this week housed employees ranging from administrators to mechanics and heavy equipment operators. More than a dozen county workers were displaced - not to mention the plow trucks and heavy equipment some of them use.
They've responded well to the adversity, said one county official, and were preparing to face the weekend's pending snowfall.
"It's a change and everybody is stepping up and doing what they can to help us move forward," said County Administrator Matthew Huddleston. "They're going to keep things happening and services will be provided."
The vehicle maintenance portion of the large shop along Lake County Highway 2 in Two Harbors burned Wednesday night after a plow truck that was parked in a bay caught fire. There were no damage estimates yet, Huddleston said Friday, and the cause of the truck fire remained under investigation. Some equipment and parts of the structure would need to be replaced, he said previously.
"We're putting together some space in the courthouse for the administrative employees," Huddleston said, while also saying work continues on finding longer-term temporary space to store and maintain trucks and equipment.
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"There are some options in the industrial park in Two Harbors," he said. "We're seeing what can work."
Firefighters from the Two Harbors, Clifton and Silver Bay departments fought a fire that jumped from the plow truck to the roof and created hot spots they chased for hours. There was nobody in the garage at the time of the fire, Fire Chief Mark Schlangen said Thursday.
"We're closing in on numbers for damages," Huddleston said Friday. "Right now we're cleaning our fleet of vehicles and we're busy looking at alternative space locations for staff and equipment so we can maintain operations."
The Lake County Highway Department also has duty stations in Finland and Fall Lake, near Ely.
"We are in contact with our insurance company, adjusters, fire investigators, structural engineers and cleaning services to efficiently transition to temporary quarters and develop long-term facilities plans," County Highway Engineer Krysten Foster said in a news release Thursday.
The highway department also was looking to St. Louis County and Silver Bay, as well as Ziegler CAT in Duluth, for additional equipment.
