Owner: Lane County wood products plant will be rebuilt

SAGINAW, Ore. (AP) – The owner of a wood products plant in western Oregon destroyed by a fire says he will rebuild the business.

Walter Whitsell of Whitsell Manufacturing tells The Register-Guard that he intends to get the business up and going again.

The fire on May 27 destroyed the 190,000-square-foot plant in Saginaw, near Cottage Grove, in 30 minutes.

Investigators are trying to determine the cause of the fire that started at about 7:30 p.m., when no employees were at the plant.

Whitsell Manufacturing purchases lumber from sawmills and turns it into various lumber products for sale. Another business called Woodguard was also in the plant.

Whitsell says the two businesses employed about 100 workers.