A part of Libby’s identity and history burned to the ground on Thursday night.

Firefighters arrived at the former Stimson Lumber Co., plywood plant at 9:43 p.m., to find flames shooting out from structure that encompasses 4.7 acres.

They immediately went to work to keep the blaze from spreading to neighboring homes.

“The moon was shining out and the plume was so huge that it looked like someone dropped an atomic bomb,” Lincoln County Sheriff Daryl Anderson said. “Embers were flying through the air all over.”

The fire left little to salvage out of the thousands of dollars worth of equipment and material from three businesses, but the fire did not spread to homes and no one was hurt.

The sheriff’s office requested a state fire marshal to investigate the cause of the fire.

The rubble continued to smolder Friday.

“We have no idea where the point of origin is at this time,” Anderson said. “It got so hot so fast. Apparently some people were working that day doing some welding and torching work. We don’t know yet if it has anything to do with the fire.”

For more on this story, read Saturday's Daily Inter Lake.