The aftermath
I wrote recently about fire safety and highlighted three devastating fires at large pro shops within a two-day period. I don’t do updates often enough, but I thought this issue deserved one, for an important reason.
I wrote recently about fire safety and highlighted three devastating fires at large pro shops within a two-day period last week. I don’t do updates often enough, but I thought this issue deserved one, for an important reason.
The cause of the first fire, at Crewdson’s Creations in North Platte, Neb., was known last week, but the State Fire Marshall’s Office confirmed and released additional details. A member of the Crewdson family was working at the time when a piece of equipment sparked while operating, sending a smoldering ember into their dust collection system. Crewdson extinguished the flames in the ductwork but wasn’t aware that an ember had already traveled through the system and reached the collection bag.
The second fire at L.J. Gascho Furniture Co. in Pigeon, Mich., destroyed one of their eight buildings — the finishing building where the fire originated. That was an expensive loss, as that unit contained robotic finishing equipment. Still no word on the potential cause, but there is some good news. By the time you read this they should be back up and running in one of the remaining seven buildings — the original finishing structure built 35 years ago.
Both of those fires appear to be accidental, but the third one? I don’t think so, and that’s the real reason for this update.
According to the State Fire Marshal's office and Bourne (Mass.) Fire Department, the four-alarm fire at M.L. Custom Millwork and Cabinetry in Sagamore Beach, Mass., was caused by one of the oldest shop dangers around: oily rags. The fire started beneath a workbench in one of the finishing booths where used staining applicators were stored.
One of the first things we learned as beginning woodworkers was that spontaneous combustion could occur in improperly disposed rags used for oil-containing paint, stain, or varnish. We use rags all the time to apply and clean up those finishes. Once used, they should either be spread out individually to dry outdoors or, better yet, dropped into a bucket of water or sealed metal container, not piled up on top of each other. Everybody knows this, right?
Apparently not. The Massachusetts State Fire Marshal’s office noted that oily rags and finishing application gear either caused, or contributed to the cause of, more than a dozen fires in Massachusetts in 2025. This bit of carelessness caused a blaze that took more than 60 Cape Cod area firefighters some six hours to extinguish.
A.J. Hamler is the former editor of Woodshop News and Woodcraft Magazine. He's currently a freelance woodworking writer/editor, which is another way of stating self-employed. When he's not writing or in the shop, he enjoys science fiction, gourmet cooking and Civil War reenacting, but not at the same time.
