It took firefighters from eight departments five hours to battle a smoky blaze that destroyed a Chippewa Bi Products building and left Alma Center temporarily without power last week.

“It was one of the biggest fires we’ve ever had,” said Alma Center Fire Chief Jeff Gaede. “The smoke was so bad and it was difficult to try to keep enough water coming to try to put it out.”

According to Gaede, employees of Chippewa Bi Products and Countryside Hides, located on Lea Bros Road in Alma Center, noticed smoke coming from a loading area at about 2:30 p.m. on Nov. 20. Gaede said firefighters attempted to extinguish the fire through the roof of the building, but flames inside the building began to shoot out.

“It was smoking pretty good in the center of the building,” Gaede said. “We tried to fight the fire from inside. We got a couple guys on the roof and cut some holes, but fire started to come up behind our men.

“We started calling in resources.”

Fire departments from Alma Center, Merrillan, Hixton, Taylor, Fairchild, Black River Falls, Humbird and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources responded to the scene, assisted by the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department and Alma Center First Responders. Twelve tankers were at the scene and Gaede estimates 100,000 gallons of water were used to extinguish the fire.

The fire remains under investigation, although Gaede said it is believed the fire was caused by an electrical problem. No injuries were reported.

About an hour into the fire, Xcel Energy responded to the scene to cut electricity to the building and initially had to stop electricity through a main power pole, leaving the entire community of Alma Center without electricity for about a half hour, Gaede said.

Donald Olson, assistant general manager of Chippewa Bi Products and Countryside Hides, said this is the first fire at the business in its seven years. Olson said the approximate 8,400-square-foot building used for animal processing was a total loss, although damage costs are not known at this time. There were just two of the business’ 35 employees working at the time of the fire.

Chippewa Bi Products and Countryside Hides are owned by Boston Hides & Furs out of Chelsea, Ma. The business salvages deceased bovine for dog food and hides.

While the Alma Center location is closed for the time being, Olson said the business is still operational as it has been allowed to use the facilities at a similar plant in Greenwood. He said no employees will be laid off, and there is a plan to rebuild the processing plant in Alma Center.

“It won’t be on the exact same site — we’ll hopefully move it back a little — but we’re going to try to build as soon as we can,” Olson said.

Gaede said after firefighters were unable to put out the fire inside the building, the objective was to contain the fire to the structure and extinguish it as soon as possible. He said a difficulty in battling the fire was that the single-story structure had several additions and consisted of about 11 buildings.

Weather conditions also hampered the effort. Freezing temperatures caused standing water to turn to ice, and sporadic gusts of strong winds would push the black billows of smoke down onto the scene and across Highway 95, causing poor visibility at times. Gaede said authorities were able to keep the highway open but additional help was needed to control traffic and onlookers.

Because of the extent of the fire, supplying water to the site was vital and created urgency. Two water sites were set up in Alma Center with another in Hixton, and other departments transported water to the site.

Black River Falls Fire Chief Steve Schreiber spent most of his time transporting water to the site. The Black River Falls Fire Department made 14 water dumps between the two tankers it provided, accounting for 40,500 gallons of water.

Schreiber, who has been fighting fires for almost 30 years, said last week’s fire shows how the elements can make a fire even more difficult. But he also notes the situation demonstrates the importance of having mutual aid between other departments.

“It was a difficult fire, but we’ve had other ones as difficult in even colder weather,” he said. “Cold weather is never fun and always creates equipment problems, and we’re always concerned about our firefighters’ well being.

“It takes a lot of resources (to fight a fire like this), but we work very well together among our county departments. If something happens, we call in our neighbors.”

Gaede, who said about 50 firefighters responded to the incident, agreed and said he was appreciative of all the help.

“I’d really like to thank all the departments,” Gaede said. “We have really good mutual aid.”

Gaede said two backhoes were utilized to tear down what was left of the building. The scene was cleared at about 7:39 p.m.