Owner of burned Oakland lumberyard estimates cost of damage in the millions

While a massive fire at an East Bay lumberyard is still under an investigation, its owner tells NBC Bay Area that the damage could cost the company millions of dollars. 

Fire trucks were still at Economy Lumber on High Street in Oakland on Monday, after a fire there Sunday left behind piles of charred debris and burned-out forklifts. 

“It’s just sad, you know? I’ve been there for 41 years.” said its owner John Bacon. “I have 30 years of Christmas pictures of the whole employees on the wall. And a lot of my personal stuff is in there. It’s pretty disappointing.”

The well-known East Bay lumberyard has been in the city in decades. Bacon estimates the damage from the fire to the high-end lumber and equipment could be millions of dollars. 

“We got almost a million bucks in forklifts that were in the shed, the charging elements for keeping the units charged up,” Bacon said. 

The Oakland Fire Department is still trying to determine the cause of the fire, but confirmed Monday that the fire originated inside of a building at the lumberyard. 

As for next steps, Bacon said work at the lumberyard will be put on hold until next week. ANy future redesign of the building will include a sprinkler system, which was not in place previously. 

For now, Bacon is making sure his employees stay strong during this difficult time. 

“It’s really super disappointing,” Bacon said. “I have customers and employees crying about it, but you just gotta go after it the next day, you know?”