A lumber mill in Woodstock, N.B., burned to the ground overnight Friday. Firefighters say the building was struck by lightning.

Doug Jamieson was at home about seven kilometres away from the mill when his house shook.

"I ran out on the deck," he said. "My dad called me and said a lightning bolt hit the mill."

Not long after, Jamieson said he could clearly see the building was on fire. He called the mill owner and drove to the scene.

"You could feel the heat from the car," Jamieson said. "The whole mill part was just on fire — just [blazing], and it burned to the ground within 45 minutes."

The emergency crews were called to the W.K. Lumber Mill around 11:30 p.m.

"En route, all we could see was a ball — a glow in the sky," said Woodstock fire chief Ricky Nicholson.

The building was on Route I-95, on the U.S. border. Nicholson called in the fire department from neighbouring Houlton, Maine, to help.

"A lot went through my mind en route," said Nicholson. "We're very thankful for all the rain we've had in the past few days, because if not, all that sawdust out there, all the wood products is highly combustible, we'd probably still be there today with a bigger fire."

In all, 35 firefighters battled the flames through the night, but nothing could be done to save the business.

"Basically, we put thousands of gallons of water on it," he said.

Doug Jamieson said he was nervous the flames would spread.

"There's trees all the way up to my house. If the fire would have caught one of those trees, it would have gone straight up to my house."

The fire crews remain on the scene Saturday watching for flare-ups.

Nicholson said they're confident lightning sparked the fire.

The mill was owned by Jamie Kitchen, whose father started the business in 1975. Kitchen said the company supplied lumber to furniture companies and railroads.

He said the mill employed 16 people in Woodstock.