UPDATE (6:01 p.m. on Tuesday, March 28): Investigators are still trying to determine why a sawmill burned down in Clay County early Tuesday morning. They say nobody was hurt by the fire.

According to the owner, 32 employees and over a dozen subcontractors worked at the sawmill. Now they have to wait and see if the owner will choose to rebuild the sawmill or not, but they are unsure at this time.

CLAY COUNTY, WV. (WOWK) – A historic sawmill is a total loss after it went up in flames early Tuesday morning.

The fire broke out at the Pierson Lumber Sawmill on Clay Highway around 12:30 a.m.

The owner, David Pierson who lives nearby, says he woke up to a “boom” and worked to try to contain the fire until crews arrived. 

Several fire departments in Clay County responded spending the morning fighting the inferno.

Pierson says the sawmill belonged to his grandfather and has been in business since 1943. He says no one was working at the time and everything is destroyed.

No word on the cause of the fire or if they will rebuild.