Employees at West Fraser's WestPine medium density fibreboard plant in Quesnel will remain on the job conducting cleanup and repair following last week's fire and explosion, the company's CEO said Monday.
"We will not restart operations at WestPine MDF until we know it is safe," Ted Seraphim also said in a statement.
The incident occurred Wednesday evening in the feed-stock area outside the plant's main production area. All 30 employees who were working at the time were safely evacuated and volunteer firefighters were called in to battle the ensuing blaze.
"West Fraser is committed to repairing and restarting WestPine but not until we complete our investigation, determine the root cause of what failed inside the MDF forming process equipment, and are confident we have the solution in place to ensure a similar incident can never happen again," Seraphim said.
About 100 people work at the plant which presses wood waste into particle board.
