Another mill fire has erupted in Burns Lake.
It happened Tuesday at Decker Lake Forest Products (DLFP) the second most important mill in the wood-dependent town west of Prince George. The first most important mill, Babine Forest Products (BFP), was largely destroyed in a mysterious explosion on Jan. 20.
Both mills are owned by Hampton Affiliates of Portland, Oregon. The Citizen attempted to reach Hampton officials for comment on the DLFP fire, but received no return contact as of press time.
The Tuesday blaze started at about 7:20 a.m., bringing the Burns Lake RCMP, firefighters, ambulance paramedics, plus utilities emergency responders from BC Hydro and Pacific Northern Gas. The mill is located about 20 minutes west of Burns Lake's main townsite.
"There were approximately 50 employees onsite at the time of the fire who all assisted with trying to put out the fire before emergency crews arrived," said North District RCMP spokeswoman Const. Lesley Smith. "The fire was contained and successfully extinguished by mill employees and emergency crews."
Smith was on-scene at the BFP explosion about six weeks ago and said this one thankfully bore no similarities to that massive explosion and intense fire. This latest blaze started in the planer area at DLFP under more conventional circumstances.
"That [BFP] was an explosion, so the employees had no time to react and use their training," said Smith. "At Decker Lake Forest Products, the fire broke out but it was a typical fire, not a blast, so the employees could put their training to use because there was that time to react."
At least one employee was treated at the scene by paramedics for smoke inhalation. No further injuries have been reported and the fire was not deemed suspicious in nature.
