SULTAN – Gary Bryant has spent most his life shaping old cedar into roofing shakes and shingles at a shake mill in the Skykomish Valley.
Wednesday, Bryant watched the business that his father and his uncle built go up in flames.
“I’m a little shell-shocked,” said Bryant, who operated B&B Cedar Sales Inc. for nearly two decades. “I’m going to have a cup of coffee and see what’s left.”
The fire broke out about 4:30 a.m. at 1209 Stevens Ave., just east of Sam’s Saw Shop. Firefighters arrived to find the building, which was full of cedar shakes, blocks and sawdust, engulfed in flames, Snohomish County Fire District 5 Chief Merlin Halverson said.
Bryant, who lives in a trailer behind the business during the week, woke up to voices and a dog barking. He then heard the crackling of the flames eating away at the wooden building.
The voices likely belonged to people who called 911 to report the fire, Halverson said.
Firefighters kept the blaze from spreading to nearby trees and power lines. The building was gutted, with a loss estimated at $50,000, county assistant fire marshal Bruce Pulver said.
The accidental fire likely started in a wood stove that had been used Tuesday, he said.
The business was not insured, Bryant said. “You couldn’t get an insurance company to touch these old mills.”
The mill started in the early 1950s. Bryant, 51, has been in the business for more than 30 years. He took it over about 16 years ago, leasing it from Sam Wold Jr., who owns the property.
“It was the last shake mill in the valley,” said Bryant, who was its sole employee.
Roofers and homeowners from as far away as Eastern Washington bought shakes and shingles from Bryant.
Business had been good this year, he said, but he will not rebuild, saying it would cost too much to start over.
Years ago, his dad told him milling was a dying art, but Bryant liked the hard work and having something he could be proud of at the end of each day, he said.
“There’s not a lot of money in this business. It really wasn’t about the money though,” he said. “It’s the thought of having to find something else that I love to do that kills me.”
Reporter Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463 or hefley@heraldnet.com.
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