Saranac Lake firefighters responded to an alarm activation at 1134 state Route 86 at 7:26 p.m.

“We happened to have a firefighter — Doug Peck, a lieutenant — driving by when the call came over,” said fire Chief Brendan Keough. “He pulled in and reported flames were showing.”

More than 50 firefighters and numerous trucks from multiple departments responded to the blaze, including Saranac Lake, Lake Placid, Bloomingdale, Keene and Wilmington.

The fire was concentrated on the western end of the business’ storefront, where its paint supplies are located, Keough said.

Firefighters from the Lake Placid Volunteer Fire Department work in the front door of Curtis Lumber while battling a blaze that broke out at the business in Ray Brook around 8 p.m. Sunday. (Enterprise photo — Lou Reuter)

“It was a hot fire when we got here,” he said. “We did what we call a blitz attack. We used the master stream off our primary pumper to do an initial knockdown. We probably put 8,500 gallons of water into it. We knocked down as much as fire as we could with that. Then we went interior from two directions, from a side door and the main entrance, and the guys finished knocking the fire down.”

The blaze didn’t go through the building’s roof. It “self-vented” out the front windows, Keough said. Fire damage was limited to the western end of the store.

“It’s all contained to about a quarter of the main showroom,” Keough explained. “They guys did a really great job keeping the fire down on that end. I don’t know what they’re going to have for smoke damage throughout the whole place because the smoke was pretty rancid.”

Curtis Lumber is closed on Sundays, so no one was in the building at the time. No injuries to any firefighters were reported.

Keough said the fire could have been much worse if it wasn’t for the building’s alarm system. In addition to the storefront, the property includes a kitchen and bath showroom, and a large drive-through warehouse and lumber yard. There were also several vehicles in the lumber yard, Keough said.

Two firefighters from Lake Placid who are in the bucket truck from Saranac Lake rise above the smoke pouring out of broken windows at Curtis Lumber in Ray Brook around 8:15 p.m. Sunday. (Enterprise photo — Lou Reuter)

“It wasn’t reminiscent of Newman and Holmes but it had potential,” he said, recalling that 2002 conflagration in Saranac Lake. “Obviously that’s what we were thinking about.”

The cause of the fire is undetermined at this point. Keough said state fire investigators would likely handle the probe “given the size of the fire in a commercial building, the potential amount of loss in an insurance claim.”

Tim Lacey of Willsboro, Curtis Lumber’s regional manager, was among a group of employees who rushed to the scene after hearing about the fire. He was celebrating his daughter’s birthday at the time.

Lacey hadn’t been able to get inside and see the extent of the damage as of 10:30 p.m.

“We’re not released to go inside and probably won’t be for some time,” he said. “We won’t know much until morning at least. The alarm did it’s job though.”

Saranac Lake fire driver John Derby checks pressure on a hose while fighting a fire at the Curtis Lumber store in Ray Brook Sunday night. (Enterprise photo — Lou Reuter)

Lacey said he had no idea what could have started the fire.

“But we’ll pull through this,” he said. “This is a good company.”

The Ray Brook location is one of 21 Curtis Lumber sites in central, eastern and northern New York, and northern Vermont.

Saranac Lake firefighters were back at the fire station around 11:30 p.m. The Paul Smiths-Gabriels Volunteer Fire Department manned Saranac Lake’s station during the call.