It was not a typical Monday morning at Woodrow Engineering in Ellison Bay. The first employee who arrived at the ruler-making company at 11644 Hwy 42 found the facility filled with smoke.
Sister Bay-Liberty Grove Fire Chief Chris Hecht says firefighters traced the source of the smoke to an overheated motor. Hecht says they unplugged the motor and ventilated the building to clear out the smoke.
Woodrow Engineering owner Mike Ball says the motor that acted up was plugged into the wall but hadn't been used in two to three years.
"It was an older motor, 20 to 30 years old probably," says Ball. "Maybe dust and humidity somehow created some kind of connection with electricity and it started smoldering -- but that's just a guess. I'm just thankful that it wasn't anything other than that. If that big old wood structure would catch fire then it would be one of the big ones in the county."
Ball says the fire department did a great job.
"I thank them a bunch for showing up quickly and finding it and making sure it wasn't any worse."
