The entire staff of Apex Urethane Millwork in Red Lion returned to work Wednesday morning, less than a day after fire destroyed a portion of the woodworking factory.

A company spokesman said he hopes to get the company back to normal operation by Monday, losing as little time from the spring construction boom as possible.

Chief Operating Officer Michael Sampere said about 40 Apex employees and 15 temporary workers got to work cleaning the interior of the three-story brick building at 105 S. Church Lane.

Workers will clean through the end of the week before the company returns to making wood trimwork used in homes.

Much of the building was spared from fire but sustained water damage. Contractors are expected this week to replace windows that were knocked out during the fire, and to repair a hole that firefighters cut in the roof, Sampere said.

Dave Stump, chief of Red Lion's Leo Fire Co., said investigators are still trying to determine the cause of the fire, which apparently started in a dust-collection bin. A state police fire marshal was at the site Wednesday, he said.

Sampere said he had not yet met with an insurance adjuster to find out how much it will cost to repair the area of the dust bin, which was almost completely destroyed.

He said that workers had already finished cleaning two floors, and he is hoping that engineers and electrical workers will give the factory a "clean bill of health" to return to normal operations.

The company needs to

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seize all the business it can while the building industry, which has been soft, is gearing up for the busy season, he said.

"Things are picking up again," Sampere said. "We certainly don't want any hiccups here where we drop the ball for our customers."

And company officials don't want employees to be out of work, he said.

The fire was reported at about 12:45 p.m. Tuesday, and by 1 p.m., the blaze had already gone to four alarms. The fire was under control by 2 p.m. At least six fire departments responded to the blaze, from as far away as West York.

--Reach Christina Kauffman at 505-5436 or ckauffman@yorkdispatch.com.