A fire destroyed the main powerhouse structure of Algae AquaCulture Technologies and caused $1 million in damage near Columbia Falls early Saturday morning.

F.H. Stoltze Land and Lumber workers called in the fire at the experimental alternative-energy plant’s octagonal dome-shaped facility at 4:28 a.m., Columbia Falls Fire Chief Rick Hagen said.

The Columbia Falls, Whitefish and Badrock fire departments responded with three engines, five water tenders, a heavy rescue vehicle, a command vehicle and 24 firefighters. No one was injured.

“About half the building was burning when we arrived,” Hagen said. “There was no way we could do an interior attack, so it was a defensive effort with firefighters using hoses outside.”

According to Robin Kelson, the executive vice president of corporate development for the company, the powerhouse is a complete loss but the company will be able to continue production of some of its products.

“Operations are not suspended,” she said. “In one of the other buildings we have our pyrolysis machine with which we will continue to make biochar.”

Total monetary damages have not been established yet, she said, but it would take four months to rebuild the powerhouse and another two to get it fully operational again. 

Hagen estimated the losses at about $1 million.

Algae AquaCulture Technologies is an alternative energy company that is working with Stoltze as a possible energy supplier for the lumber company’s plant in the future. 

The company laid the foundation for its 5,000-square-foot Green Power House in 2010. Initial funding included a $350,000 grant from the Montana Department of Environmental Quality.  

The powerhouse was housed in an glass octagonal dome supported with steel, but wood and highly flammable polyurethane insulation inside the building burned all but 25 percent of the facility, Hagen said. 

Hagen said he’s confident the fire started accidentally in the lab building. Charcoal produced as part of the energy project had been placed in a plastic tote in the lab building and possibly re-ignited.

“There’s so much fire damage, we’re not 100 percent certain, but that’s what it looks like,” Hagen said.

The main powerhouse used industrial waste such as wood chips from Stoltze — which owns the land and co-owns the technology company — to cultivate algae. The algae produces methane gas that can be used for energy. Other byproducts include hydrogen and a valuable organic fertilizer.

These products are the ones the company will have to wait to produce again because of the fire.

“We’ve been producing enough of our liquid product, REGENiSYS, that we have some stored away,” Kelson said. “We are still going to move forward with sales on that front.”

REGENiSYS, a “soil amendment” product, is sold locally and nationally.

The company, which employs nine people, could see this as a silver lining to a dark cloud.

“It’s certainly a setback, I’m not going to say it’s not,” Kelson said. “But this gives us an opportunity to implement redesigns we were looking toward in the future. It’s just maybe a bit quicker than we thought.”

Richard Hanners of the Hungry Horse News contributed to this story.