The International Falls Fire Department spent more than 12 hours battling a blaze at the site where Up North Builders Inc., located on U.S. Highway 53, once stood.
International Falls Fire Department Chief Jerry Jensen said the department was notified in a call from a neighbor to the contracting business at 8:28 p.m. Monday. By the time crews arrived at the scene, Jensen said the flames had already taken over the building.
“That is what is tough about a fire like this,” Jensen told The Journal. “By the time we got there, the whole building was totally engulfed (in flames).”
Portions of Highway 53 were closed Monday night and Tuesday morning while firefighters battled the blaze that rendered the 5,000- square-foot building, owned by Dave Harder, a loss.
Jensen said 21 firefighters were on the scene until midnight and two stayed until 10 a.m. Tuesday.
“The building is just so big,” Jensen explained.
Nobody was in the building at the time of the fire, Jensen said, adding that the state’s fire marshal and local investigators will go through the building Wednesday in an attempt to determine the origin of the fire.
“Sometimes with a building that big and a fire that hot, it is possible we won’t be able to find out the cause,” he said Tuesday. “At this point, we haven’t even thought about determining the cause.”
