DURHAM, NC (WNCN) – More than $300,000 worth of logging equipment was destroyed in a fire in Durham last week. Leaders of the family business said someone set the fire on purpose.
Triangle Forest Products, an Apex-based timber company, is currently making way for a housing development on Arvin Road in Durham. When the workers with them returned to their place of residence the day after Christmas, they found the equipment burned and destroyed.
A piece of equipment is called a log loader, which is used to cut wood and plan it.
The Vice President of Triangle Forest Products, Adam Phillips, said that someone set fire to a log loader and tried to set fire to a lot of logs. Someone also tampered with the hydraulic system and tools were scattered around.
“We came back the day after Christmas and found the site of our operation burned to the ground,” said Phillips.
Although insurance will cover some losses, the company said the log loader will be expensive to replace.
“Everybody has bills to pay and families to support,” said Phillips. “Something like this happens, it affects everyone.”
“The wood business is hard enough when everything is going well and you have to deal with something like that,” he said.
After several days of lost production, the company was able to deliver a new log loader this week.
“We’re back and we’re going, but it’s going to be a big risk,” Phillips said.
CBS 17 reached out to the Durham Fire Department to confirm they are investigating the case as an arson. The spokesman said they had not yet found an official reason.
“We are assisting the Durham Fire Department with this investigation,” the Durham Police Department said in a statement.
