Fire damage in the millions.

Byline: Joe Mosley The Register-Guard

Gheen Irrigation Works suffered losses that may top $5 million and will idle more than 65 employees - at least temporarily - the company's owner said Saturday as he surveyed the rubble after a general-alarm fire at the Eugene plant the night before.

Robert Gheen, third-generation owner of the 74-year-old company, said he'll take some time to consider his options before deciding whether to rebuild all or part of the 40,000-square-foot structure that burned nearly to the ground late Friday.

"Whatever we do, it's not going to be in the same form it was," Gheen said. "These were old, wooden buildings."

The manufacturing plant and its contents were insured, he said, but it has not been determined whether the full value of the loss will be covered.

The blaze - the largest in Eugene-Springfield in recent memory - broke out sometime after work crews left the pipe and fittings plant at 4:30 p.m. Friday. It was reported to authorities by passers-by at 9:37 p.m.

"It was impressive," District Chief Mark Grover of the Eugene Fire Department said Saturday afternoon at the scene on Willagillespie Road, just east of Delta Highway. Even in a career spanning 25 years or more, "you only get a handful of these fires," Grover said.

About 60 firefighters responded to the blaze - including at least eight from the Springfield Fire Department - with a huge array of apparatus. Eight fire engines turned out, along with five aerial trucks that are equipped to spray streams of water from the tops of their extendable ladders.

In addition, crews from the Coburg, Santa Clara, Goshen and Lane Rural fire departments were dispatched to fire stations around Eugene to provide backup as needed for other incidents.

"Thank goodness we don't have these very often," Grover said. "When we do, it's an all-hands-on-deck situation."

The precise origin or cause of the fire had not been determined on Saturday, but at least two theories were being considered.

Gheen said the fire may have begun toward the middle of the main building in which steel fittings for irrigation pipes were manufactured. A line of welding stations was located in that area, and he said it may have been possible for a spark to have smoldered after workers had left for the day.

Grover said fire officials are also looking into reports from neighbors that a fire was seen near the rear of the building at least a few hours before Friday's blaze was reported. There were rumors that someone saw low flames in that area but thought it was a warming fire started by transients and ignored it, he said.

"It seemed to be the most intense fire on the west end of the main building here," Grover said. "But it had such a head start on us, there was probably a 50-by-50 (foot) area that was fully involved by the time we got here."

Nobody was in the manufacturing plant at the time of the fire, and there were no injuries to firefighters who responded to the incident.

Although the city's Toxic Right to Know Web site lists 30 hazardous chemicals that were used or stored at Gheen Irrigation, Grover said the fire caused no apparent contamination.

Several members of the fire department's hazardous materials team responded to the blaze and tested both the smoke and runoff that flows into the nearby Delta Ponds. Both tests registered normal readings, he said.

In particular, department officials were concerned about liquefied zinc used in the company's galvanization operations, along with sulfuric acid and sodium hydroxide. However, the galvanization operation is housed in a structure attached to the southwest side of the main building, and it remained largely intact.

Another outbuilding containing some pipe- and fitting-manufacturing equipment also remained standing at the rear of the main building, leading Gheen to hope that his company may be able to resume at least a portion of its operations. He began contacting pipe-making competitors on Saturday, offering to temporarily shift some of his business to them.

Gheen also spotted several piles of pipe and fittings among the smoldering ruins that may be salvageable.

"There's a lot of product on the other side," he said, standing at the north end of his destroyed plant. "You can see pieces on the other side that could be salvaged.

"It's all metal," he said. "As long as it didn't get so hot that it de-shaped the pieces, it could be salvaged."

Gheen said he's waiting to determine how much of a salvage operation will be possible, and how much manufacturing equipment is still usable, before notifying employees of his plans. But he hopes to be able to bring as many employees back as possible, if he can resume portions of his operation - or if it makes sense to rebuild.

"We'll see what we can do, and take it one step at a time," Gheen said. "At this point here, we'll probably want to clean up this mess and see what kind of a flat spot I've got (to build on)."

The irrigation pipe company was founded two years after Gheen's grandfather, Robert Lee Gheen, bought six acres on Willagillespie Road in 1931 to begin growing pole beans.

He began tinkering with irrigation systems, eventually selling pipe and fittings to other farmers.

Through the years, the company grew into a multimillion-dollar operation, selling irrigation systems in all 50 states, Canada and Mexico.

Gheen said that despite the losses his company suffered in the fire, he is thankful no one was injured in the incident.

"You can always rebuild stuff," he said. "But you can't rebuild bodies."