Wednesday, November 2, 2016 11:30 am

HEATERS, West Virginia (From The Charleston Gazette-Mail) -- A fire in the upper level of the Weyerhaeuser wood mill in Heaters, near Flatwoods in Braxton County, caused substantial damage to the building Tuesday and sent one contractor to an area hospital for minor injuries, according to a Braxton County dispatcher.

About 50 members of three fire departments from Sutton, Flatwoods and Frametown were on hand to combat the fire. The fire started in the dryer units in the upper level of the building and was contained to that area, the dispatcher said.

The fire began before noon and firefighters arrived on the scene shortly afterward, said Weyerhaeuser public affairs manager Nancy Thompson.

All employees were evacuated from the building. The contractor was treated for injuries caused by smoke inhalation and has been released from the hospital.

Because of a concentrated amount of electrical equipment near the dryer units, they had to be more cautious when fighting the fire, Thompson said.

Crews still were fighting the fire as of 9 p.m. Tuesday with three bins of wood chips still burning. Mike Baker, Braxton County 911 director and emergency manager, said 13 fire departments from surrounding municipalities were called in to help fight the fire.

"The reason for so many departments is we pumped so much water in the early stages of the fire that we depleted the water system, so we had to start hauling water in," Baker said.

Baker estimated that the fire would be put out by 1 a.m.

The mill has 163 full-time employees.