KOOTENAI — Fire crews from multiple agencies quickly contained a Thursday evening fire at Lignetics.

Northside Fire Chief Jeff Armstrong said a passerby noticed what they felt was an inordinate amount of smoke at the Ponderay wood products company and called 911 to report a possible fire at 5:18 p.m. By the time crews arrived two minutes later, the fire had spread from the kiln and gotten into the walls and in the stack and upgraded the report to a structure fire.

Lignetics officials initially thought the company's sprinkler system had the fire under control, but with the recent hot weather, Armstrong said the sawdust used to create the company's wood pellets and heating bricks was "just extremely flammable."

An exact cause of the fire is not known at this point, but Armstrong said firefighters would work with Lignetics crews to try and understand more about what caused the fire.

The quick action and the strong response to the mutual aid request helped firefighters contain the fire by about 6:30 p.m. However, he expected firefighters would remain on scene for another several hours to mop up the fire and ensure any hot spots were addressed before turning the scene back over to Lignetics crews.

The fire was in the kiln area of Lignetics and got into the walls of the fourth floor and into the stack.

In addition to Northside, firefighters from Selkirk Fire, Sandpoint, Sam Owen and Kootenai County fire departments responded to the fire. Also responding was Bonner County EMS.

Armstrong praised the mutual aid response, especially crews responding from Kootenai County, saying they were amazing partners that go out of their way to help the smaller departments.

"I think this incident just goes to show that our mutual aid system works," Armstrong said. "The results of these districts and the city of Sandpoint working together, training together, can be seen on this incident. We're stronger together."

    Smoke can be seen pouring from a building at Lignetics after a fire was reported at the wood products company early Thursday afternoon.
  

    Emergency crews stand ready as area firefighters work to put out a fire at Lignetics early Thursday evening.