Alex Paul
One of Sweet Home’s oldest industries, Lester Shingle, is expected to be back up and running within four weeks as repairs caused by a $250,000 arson September 18, 2004 continue.
Jim Philpott said the family-owned shingle mill will employ seven or eight persons.
“We’ve got so many people to thank in the community for helping us,” Philpott said. “The Fire Department was outstanding. We’ve had several contractors working with us including Keith Wooley, Scott and Tom Dimick, Gary Carper, Tim Walker, Devon Bowen, Boots and Don Davis. Many have donated their time. We’ve also had two of our mill crew members, Tom and Todd Kohnke here every day.”
Philpott said the damaged area of the burned structure was removed as was equipment too damaged to repair.
Once clean up was complete, he and brother in law Larry Lester have coordinated a rebuilding project that has downsized the structure but utilizes previously unused area within the large building.
“We lost a lot of equipment,” Philpott said. “We lost a shingle saw, band saw, deck saw, a couple of conveyors and a couple fork lifts.”
Replacement equipment came from the company’s other shingle mill known as Three-Pack behind the Point Restaurant. It has not operated for several years. New equipment will also be added as needed, Philpott said.
“We’ve rebuilt the upper deck area, added a shingle and band saw, rebuilt three conveyors and we need to buy a deck saw,” Philpott said. “We’ve fortunately been able to salvage quite a bit from the two mills combined.”
At midnight, Saturday, Sept. 18, Jesse Garcia, an employee who lives in a house on the Lester Sales business grounds, was notified of flames at the mill by the Sweet Home Police Department.
Firefighters were quickly on scene but the building and its contents were fully engulfed in minutes.
arson.
Some 50 firefighters from Sweet Home, Lebanon and Brownsville helped attack the blaze.
Lester Shingle is one of the community’s oldest family owned businesses. Founded by Mel Lester in the late 1940s, the shingle mill was built in 1950 and was rebuilt in 1970 after a major fire.
Stan Lester, Mel’s son, worked with his father for decades at the plant until management was taken over by son-in-law Jim and Marsha Philpott and son Larry and Sandy Lester.
When Stan Lester was still in high school here in the 1950s, the plant employed 12 persons three shifts per day.
Before the September fire, Lester Shingle employed nine persons on a single shift. The company produces cedar shingles for housing and shim products for leveling doors and windows as well as by-products such as cedar toe bales.
At the time of the fire, Larry Lester said the blaze wiped out the central part of the work area, destroying extensive electrical circuitry.
“We’ve had excellent cooperation from the City of Sweet Home and Linn County,” Jim Philpott said. “Everyone’s doing their best to help us get back up and running as quickly as we can. We appreciate all the support we’re getting on this.”