Much of the Cascade Structural Laminators plant south of Chehalis burned to the ground late Wednesday night, belching out plumes of yellow and orange smoke that could be seen from Interstate 5.

The Chehalis Industrial Park was alive with activity after firefighters responded at about 10:30 p.m. No one was inside the facility at the time, with roughly 20 employees having gone home at 4 p.m., according to an employee on the scene.

There were no injuries in the blaze that left the production facility and office as total losses. Co-owner Steven Killgore said he doesn’t plan on letting the business go under, but workers on the scene said they were nervous.

“We’re screwed, I guess no paycheck on Friday,” said five-year employee David Malone, who was watching the fire from the sidelines after he got pictures texted to him on his cell phone.

Killgore said he’d try to expedite the payroll process this week, and may have paychecks ready by Friday. He said work will still be offered to employees, at least for now.

“Our inventory is intact. We can continue to service customers for a while,” Killgore said.

The facility, covering an 8.5-acre plot in the industrial park, uses a hot glue press and 50,000-watt generators to radiate multiple two-by-fours into giant construction beams, according to former employee Terry Eisenhower, who works nearby and was on the scene Wednesday night after calling 9-1-1.

The state Department of Ecology issued a release early this morning detailing the environmental impact: about 500 gallons of the laminating glue washed into a ditch and wetlands nearby, both of which feed into Dillenbaugh Creek and on into the Chehalis River.

The glue contains the chemical phenol resourcinol and an accompanying catalyst, and Ecology representatives are still trying to determine the total environmental impact of the glue. Until then, the business has a vacuum truck on the scene to suck up as much of the glue off the water’s surface as possible, said Department of Ecology spokesperson Jani Gilbert.

Killgore, who is also Cascade Structural Laminators president and operating manager, will have co-owned the company for five years on July 1. There were about 65 employees at the company’s peak, but curtailments brought that number down to the current 20.

“Ironically, the last four weeks business has really been picking up,” he said. “But we’re gonna figure out how to pull this all together.”

While the business is insured, Killgore said the custom equipment can’t just be bought off a shelf.

Lewis County Fire District 6 was the first to respond Wednesday night, accompanied by the Chehalis Fire Department, the Riverside Fire Authority and support from an Olympia Fire Department ladder truck.

The departments were still putting out small fires around the facility as of 8 a.m. today. Hoses were on full blast Wednesday night as dozens of sweating firefighters worked in shifts to respond to multiple spotty fires.

Chehalis Fire Chief Larry Allen said it took about an hour to get the blaze under control. He said there’s no cause available yet, and there probably won’t be for the next couple of days.