Joe Prince is sleeping better these days.
One year after he was left with severe burns on his arms, hands and back after being hit by a fireball in the Lakeland Mills sawmill explosion, the 58-year-old says time is helping heal the physical and psychological wounds he suffered in the tragedy that took the lives of two of his co-workers.
"It's kind of tough trying to still get my life together, going through a little bit of counselling and all that stuff, but it helps along the line," said Prince. "Talking about it helps quite a bit because I find I'm sleeping a little easier now and I'm starting to get over it. It's not as hard as it was, months back."
Prince was eating lunch in his log debarker operator's booth on the night of April 23, 2012, when the air behind him suddenly erupted in violent flame. He remembers putting his arms up to shield his face as he looked back in horror, then jumping down from his booth to make his escape through the nearby exit door out of the mill.
"I don't remember much because it happened so fast ," he said. "If I did remember more of it I would probably be taking it tougher. I didn't hear no boom or anything. Where I was working there's always chains on the conveyer making noise, rattling and squeaking.
"I turned around to put my container back into my lunchbox and it happened while my back was turned, away from the fireball. It made me turn around and when I did that I must have put my arms up in the air and the flame got the better part of my arms from my elbows to my fingertips.
Prince suffered third-degree burns on his arms, and second-degree burns on the right side of his back, from top to bottom, and one of his knees was burned. He lost the hair off his scalp, and the flames got to his ear, the side of his face and his chin.
His hands still give him the most trouble and his physiotherapy sessions focus on trying to regain his grip and finger dexterity. He can close his fist but his baby fingers are reluctant to respond.
He still has no idea where the fire started, other than the fact it was on the east side of the sawmill. Alan Little and Glenn Roche died as a result of their injuries and four other Lakeland workers among the 22 injured men were left with major burns. Prince was unsure where Little, a shift foreman, was at the time of the explosion. Roche, a head rig saw operator, was working about 120 feet away from Prince.
"It might have started at the slasher, something to do with sawdust and sparks from a bearing," said Prince. "I still think it was gas buildup. If anything, if they knew something like that would happen from the dust buildup, you'd think WorkSafe [BC] would have given them more advice to be careful in that area. Obviously something could have been done."
Once Prince got outside on the third-floor exit door platform above the cutoff saws, he found the staircase blocked where the walls had been blown out and had to walk further along the catwalk to find another set of stairs that allowed better access. To reach the ground, he had to hang on to the hand rails as his shimmied his body over the debris in a rowing motion.
Suffering from shock, Prince was doused with water and taken to UHNBC by firefighters in a Suburban. Doctors sedated him and he was flown the next morning to Vancouver General Hospital, where he underwent skin grafts and spent the following two weeks in an induced coma. He returned to Prince George and was admitted to UHNBC for another two weeks before his release, 31 days after the fire.
Although mill owners Sinclar Forest Products announced last month their intention to rebuild the sawmill, Prince doubts he will return to the job he started in 1976.
"As far as I'm concerned it's good for the economy and that's what I like," said Prince, who is unmarried, but has a daughter who lives in Alberta. "I've been there so long and the job has been good to me. I don't think I'll go back because I'm close to retirement, but it's hard to say."
