In the early evening hours of Friday, February 24, 2023, the second shift at Park Falls Hardwoods sawmill in Park Falls, WI reported a fire along the west wall of the sawmill. Two local fire companies responded and fought the blaze for six hours. An assessment of the site after the fire revealed that the southwest corner of the mill and the filing room had suffered extensive damage from the fire, while water damage rendered the electrical systems beyond repair. There were no injuries.
This image depicts a Mellot 72” slant 17-degree band saw,
with a Cleereman Slant carriage and a Lewis Scanner.
Park Falls Hardwoods is owned and operated by Midwest Hardwood Co., of Maple Grove, MN. The president of Midwest Hardwood Co., Mike Flynn, explained that, “Though there was significant heat damage to the sawmill equipment, there was modest direct fire damage. However, everything would need to be rebuilt or replaced, from new drives, motors and communications equipment, to electrical systems.” The sawmill was inoperable.
Flynn met with key Park Falls personnel and plans were quickly made to ensure continued production during the shutdown and for a rapid rebuild of the mill. As Flynn explained, “We wanted our customers and vendors not to be hurt by our issue.”
Shown here is a McDonough 72” slant 17-degree band saw, with a HMC carriage, double dog system, and a Lewis scanner.
“The fire was Friday night,” said Cory Meyer, Park Falls Hardwoods resource manager. “We had a meeting on Sunday and that week we were already positioning logs and sawing at other mills.”
“The fire never stopped us,” said Chad Beirl, sales manager for Park Falls Hardwoods. “We came up with a plan and executed it with the people we know in the area. Everybody was very receptive to helping us. We’re very fortunate to have the relationships we have with people in the area.”
Logs were shipped to six local mills for custom sawing. Other Midwest Hardwood sawmills contributed to the effort: logs and employees were shipped from Park Falls to Buffalo Lumber & Tie in Cochrane, WI, where the mill operated extended hours, and logs from their Michigan log yard were rerouted to Meister Log & Lumber in Reedsburg, WI.
In this image is a McDonough 72” Linebar.
“We kept all our people employed,” Beirl added. “Whether it was cleanup or moving people to outside sawmills to work with them. All our logs were converted to lumber.”
Plant Manager Kevin Linscott emphasized, “The day of the fire, we had four million board feet of inventory in logs, and we didn’t lose a single log.” Park Falls Hardwoods continued to support their log suppliers by continuously buying logs during the rebuild.
With operating contingency plans in place, the focus now turned to rebuilding. Midwest Hardwood Co. Director of Manufacturing Mark Gilbert was a critical part of the initial planning process, along with Flynn, Linscott, Beirl, and Meyer. “Mark was the driving force that kept everything moving,” said Flynn. Unfortunately, Gilbert passed away in July of 2023 and did not get to see the project’s completion. Upon Mark Gilbert’s passing, Kevin Linscott took over project leadership and continued the rapid progress.
Pictured here is a McDonough Linear OptiFit Edger.
The sawmill in Park Falls, WI had been idle for several years when Flynn bought it in 1989. Flynn explained that “It was a small standard technology circle saw with an edger, a gang headrig, and a basic trimmer.” Sawing capacity was around five-six million board feet a year. Flynn immediately began making upgrades, increasing the size, footprint, and production of the mill, including a second circle headrig that mirrored the first in layout. Those upgrades resulted in the mill being converted to a fully optimized and scanned circle headrig with a line bar, two edgers, gangsaw, trimmer, and a refuse system with an annual production between 22-23 million board feet a year at the time of the fire.
Plans were already in place before the fire to upgrade the edger to a new McDonough OptiFit Edger and BID Group AutoGrader. Now those plans were folded into an entire rebuild of the sawmill. Though the front half of the mill was about to change dramatically, the decision was made to keep shades of the “mirror-image” of the existing layout. Midwest utilized the existing Nicholson A6 Ring Debarker and the line bar. Two new double cut bandsaws would replace the circle saws. Line one was replaced with a Mellott 17-degree slant double cut married to a Cleereman carriage, while line two would get a McDonough 17-degree slant double cut married to an HMC carriage. Both are fully optimized and scanned with Lewis Controls. Additionally, a completely new residue system was installed to increase volume consideration to help keep the mill cleaner and create an efficient fast to load system.
Depicted here, from left to right, is Sales Manager Chad Beirl, Resource Manager Cory Meyer and Plant Manager Kevin Linscott
“Key vendors stepped up for us,” said Flynn, citing McDonough Mfg., Cleereman Industries Inc., HMC, and Winston Machinery. “They worked the hours necessary to provide all the equipment to meet our very aggressive time schedule. They did wonderful work for us!”
Matt Tietz, owner of McDonough Manufacturing in Eau Claire, WI offered the following statement, “For over 40 years, McDonough has been more than a supplier to Park Falls Hardwoods. From the early days of providing rebuilt equipment to today’s cutting-edge technology, Park Falls Hardwoods’ journey with McDonough Manufacturing is a testament to the power of long-term partnerships. It reminds us that in a rapidly changing industry, the constants of trust, quality, and mutual support are invaluable.”
Shown here is where the A-6 Ring Debarker is housed.
The new shell for the sawmill was quickly erected while the sawmill itself was being built at the same time. On September 29, 2023, a mere seven and a half months after the fire, line one went live and sawing at Park Falls resumed. By mid-January 2024, line two began sawing. Immediate returns saw a 45 percent increase in production from a pre-fire rate of 9,000 board feet an hour to post-fire over 14,000 board feet an hour. Expected annual production will be around 32-35 million board feet.
“We worked seven days a week, almost 24 hours a day from the time the mill went down until the second line was done,” said Flynn. “We had tremendous cooperation from our staff, our construction people, our mechanical/electrical vendors and equipment suppliers.”
In this image, is one of two bunker systems.
Flynn attributes the new edger and slant track band mills and other technology to increased metrics across the board, including production, grade, and overrun. The results were so favorable that equipment such as the McDonough OptiFit Edger and BID Group AutoGrader and trimmer have already been or are planned to be installed at all Midwest Hardwood sawmills.
Midwest Hardwood Company was founded in 1980 and is a part of the Baillie Group. Flynn said, “Midwest, like Baillie, is a very customer and employee centric business. All our company locations are fully optimized, and we have been upgrading non-stop for the last five-seven years. We strive to have the most current and cutting-edge technology, employees, and information systems.”
Depicted here is a mid-mill grading line in the mirror image mill.
Production facilities include three sawmills; Park Falls Hardwoods, Meister Log & Lumber, and Buffalo Lumber & Tie, sawing a combined 82-86 million board feet a year, and two dry kiln yards; Reedsburg Hardwoods in Reedsburg, WI and Superior Kilns in Mellon, WI, drying 30-36 million board feet annually.
Also included as part of Midwest Hardwood Company is Metro Hardwoods, a full-line industrial distributor, with locations in Minneapolis, MN; Chicago, IL; Milwaukee, WI; Omaha, NE; and Sioux Falls, SD. Products sold include hardwood lumber, both domestic and exotic, decorative plywood, particle board, high and low-pressure laminates, mouldings, fasteners, and glues.
Across all locations, Midwest Hardwood Company employs roughly 550 people, including 70 at the Park Falls location. The company is a member of the National Hardwood Lumber Association and the Hardwood Manufacturers Association.
Learn more at www.midwesthardwood.com.
