Fire Hits the Woodville Foundry That Casts Fire Gear

Crews knocked down a fire at St. Croix Castings in Woodville in about 20 minutes on December 15, 2025. The blaze was in the grinding room of the aluminum foundry at 415 Best Road, and every employee got out. No injuries were reported.

The same shop still lists fire-suppression hardware among the parts it finishes on that floor, and Chief Matt Knegendorf of United Fire & Rescue gave no cause and no dollar figure that night.

Smoke and Flames on Best Road

Several departments were called to the 400 block of Best Road around 9 p.m. Monday, December 15, 2025, after smoke and flames showed on the building. United Fire & Rescue Chief Matt Knegendorf said crews arrived to that scene and were able to “knock out the fire in about 20 minutes.”

Workers already inside had evacuated. The plant makes aluminum castings in sand and permanent mold, and it sits north of the Woodville exit on Interstate 94 in a village of 1,386 people at the 2020 Census. Knegendorf did not release a damage estimate.

Investigators Pointed to the Grinding Room

Fire investigators believed the fire started in the grinding room and said they were still unsure of the exact cause. In an aluminum foundry that room sits in finishing, the last indoor step before a casting is cleaned, inspected, and shipped.

The company’s own services list names a finishing department as a complete cleaning shop, with tumble blast on site and coating, painting, or anodizing sent to local outside shops. Grinding is how gates, flash, and rough spots come off a casting. It is also how fine metal particles get into the air and onto the floor.

WHAT WE KNOW

• The clock: The call went out around 9 p.m. on Monday, December 15, 2025, and crews had the fire out in about 20 minutes.
• The room: Investigators believed the fire started in the grinding room at St. Croix Castings, 415 Best Road.
• The people: All employees inside evacuated, and no injuries were reported.

WHAT IS UNCONFIRMED

• The cause: Knegendorf said crews were still unsure of the exact ignition source.
• The loss: No public dollar figure for building, machine, or inventory damage has been posted.
• The downtime: Neither the department nor the company published a reopen date or a production halt.

That unfinished file is the whole official story of the night. Everything else that can be said about the plant comes from the foundry’s own pages and from the fire district that covers Woodville.

A Family Shop of Over 35 People

Brothers Milt and Bob Sell bought the Woodville foundry in July 2001 from Sylvester Riehm, who was retiring after running Riehm Foundry in the village for several decades. Milt had already spent more than 30 years in foundry work. Bob had owned a machine shop that did tool-and-die work with Riehm, so the pair knew the floor before they signed.

They started with four people. The about page now says the shop has grown to over 35 employees on two shifts and uses three manufacturing sales representatives around the country. Milt Sell is listed as sales manager and president. Bob Sell is project manager and vice president. Milt’s daughter Nadine Wert is general manager, and the company says the brothers plan to hand the business to her in the coming years. Laura Miller is production manager. Brian Japuntich is quality engineer.

ST. CROIX CASTINGS ON ITS OWN SITE

In 2015 the St. Croix Economic Development Corporation named the plant Small Business of the Year in the category then defined as 29 or fewer employees. Chuck Jerrick, then the EDC president, put the shop in a line that still fits a two-shift jobber:

St. Croix Castings is well-regarded as a foundry and aligns age old processes with modern, automated manufacturing.

Chuck Jerrick, president, St. Croix Economic Development Corporation

The headcount has moved since that award. The public marketing has not. The site still sells sand and permanent mold work from 415 Best Road and still talks about more automation in molding, pouring, and heat treating.

Fire Gear Cast in Woodville, Finished in That Room

St. Croix Castings is a jobber shop for medium to small aluminum runs. Molten metal goes into sand molds or into iron or steel dies, then into heat treat, then into the cleaning department. A fire in grinding does not have to reach the furnaces to stop shipments. It only has to take out the benches where a casting becomes a part a customer will accept.

Among the industries on that floor is fire-suppression equipment. The services page lists pump housings, impellers, adapters and nozzles in that line, next to lighting parts, tank lids, valve bodies, and agricultural housings.

INDUSTRIES ON THE WOODVILLE FLOOR

• Commercial lighting: Roadway and residential components, decorative bases, and covers.
• Fire-suppression equipment: Pump housings, impellers, adapters, and nozzles.
• Bulk handling: Tank lids, poppets, adapters, and valve components.
• Agricultural equipment: Oil caps, connectors, receivers, manifolds, and housings.
• Industrial and recreational vehicles: Transmission and motor housings, covers, valve bodies, plates, fans, and adapters.
• Industrial tools: Gear cases, motor housings, covers, fan shrouds, and caps.

Those parts do not ship as rough castings. They go through the same finishing department investigators named as the origin of the December 15 fire. A 20-minute knockdown can still idle the last room on the line, and that is the room 73 listed customers wait on, including the ones who buy fire hardware.

Why Aluminum Dust Makes Grinding a Fire Risk

Aluminum grinding can throw sparks, pack fine powder onto a bench, and, if that powder lifts into the air at the right mix, feed a flash fire or an explosion. OSHA’s Directorate of Enforcement Programs said so in an October 8, 2009, interpretation letter on grinding hazards, and that letter is why a grinding-room call at an aluminum shop is not a mystery even when the exact match stays unknown.

Richard E. Fairfax, then director of that directorate, wrote that an aluminum particle can burn against rust in a thermite reaction, a Class D metal fire that can throw 4,500-degree Fahrenheit sparks. He also wrote that aluminum dust can be combustible or explosive if it hangs in the air at the right concentration.

Aluminum dust also can be combustible or explosive if it becomes suspended in the air at the right concentration. For example, one employee was killed, and three others were severely burned in an Indiana plant that manufactures aluminum automotive wheels after a series of explosions was fueled by aluminum dust.

Richard E. Fairfax, Director, Directorate of Enforcement Programs, OSHA interpretation letter, October 8, 2009

That Indiana wheel plant is a separate case. It is the federal example sitting on the same hazard the Woodville investigators pointed at. The Aluminum Association’s guidance on fine particles says fabricating work leaves fines generated by grinding and sawing, and that a mix 420 microns (40 mesh) or finer has the potential to explode if it ignites as a cloud.

Knegendorf did not say the Woodville fire was a dust explosion. He said the grinding room was the suspected start point and the exact cause was not in. Housekeeping, tool mix, and a Class D pile are the ordinary ways that room lights. They remain the ordinary ways until someone files a finding.

Eighty Volunteers Staff the Largest District

United Fire & Rescue was the department whose chief spoke that night. Woodville does not run a separate career engine company. It sits inside a volunteer district that also covers Baldwin, Hammond, and Wilson.

UNITED FIRE AND RESCUE ON PAPER

• Headcount: The district lists about 80 volunteer firefighters.
• Stations: Three houses share 14 pieces of apparatus, including a 78-foot aerial and a 3,200-gallon water tender.
• Rating: United Fire & Rescue carries a Class 3 insurance rating.
• Training: Members train through the Wisconsin Technical College System on a monthly schedule.

Knegendorf’s crew had the foundry fire out in about 20 minutes, which is the outcome that district is built for: a fast knock on a working structure fire, then overhaul. Several departments were called, which is how a volunteer map works when a mill building shows flame after 9 p.m. The public thanks ended there. No later department note named a cause, a loss, or a second-alarm cost.

Has the Cause of the Woodville Foundry Fire Been Released?

No. The last official words on the fire are still Knegendorf’s from the night of December 15, 2025, and the morning after: grinding room, cause unsure, no damage estimate, no injuries. No later public finding, dollar figure, or company statement has been posted.

The foundry’s site did not add an incident notice. It still offers sand and permanent mold work, heat treat, and finishing from 415 Best Road, and it still lists Nadine Wert as general manager. That is not a reopen log. It is the only document the company left in public after the knockdown.

A 20-minute fire in a grinding room can be a scorch mark or a lost week of shipments. Without a loss figure, the village of 1,386 is left with the fact that mattered on the night: everyone got out, the flames went down, and the room that finishes fire-suppression parts is the room investigators named.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Aluminum Alloys Does St. Croix Castings Pour?

The foundry says it can pour a full line of ASTM-certified alloys and that a high volume of its work is A356 Prime, 356, and 319, with aluminum certification available on request. Those grades are the everyday menu for sand and permanent-mold parts in lighting, pumps, and housings, not a special fire-only mix.

How Heavy Are the Sand Castings Made in Woodville?

Sand castings are listed from ounces up to 50 lbs, run on 14×19 or 20×24 automatic machines. Permanent-mold dies are commonly 18×24 and 30×30, with tilt-pour lines for mid-volume work and static-pour lines for higher-volume small parts.

What Quality Certification Does St. Croix Castings Hold?

The company put in an ISO 9001:2008 quality program in 2010 so it could widen its customer base, then updated that program in 2016 to ISO 9001:2015. The live site still lists ISO 9001:2015 as the quality system on the shop floor.

When Was United Fire and Rescue Formed?

United Fire & Rescue was formed in 1994 when the Baldwin, Hammond, and Woodville departments merged stations, people, and apparatus. The district says it answers about 200 calls a year across those villages plus Wilson and the towns of Baldwin, Cady, Eau Galle, Emerald, Erin Prairie, Hammond, Pleasant Valley, Rush River, and Springfield.

What Finishing Work Does the Foundry List Besides Grinding?

The finishing department is described as a complete cleaning shop, with tumble blast on site and coating, painting, or anodizing sent to local outside shops. Heat treat is separate and on site, with drop-bottom and aging furnaces for T4, T6, T71, or other conditions, and air or water quench as required. The quality lab says trained staff do 100 percent casting inspection to job-specific guidelines.