Teams investigate conveyor levels at Babine, Lakeland

Clues in the wreckage of Babine Forest Products and Lakeland Mills have brought investigators to the same general area of the two mills.

"In both investigations, the ignition sources appear to have been located at the conveyor level, where electrical and/or mechanical equipment was in operation in areas contained by walls and equipment," said WorkSafeBC investigations director Jeff Dolan. "These areas are at the basement or lower level of both of the mills under investigation."

He said the investigation was still, in many ways, early.

Copious evidence was gathered and interviews of witnesses done - about 80 people regarding Babine and about 40 regarding Lakeland - and that information was being tested and analyzed now. When both investigation teams drew the same conclusions about the general area where each blast was triggered, that was enough to warrant warning the industry.

"There remains the possibility these are coincidental factors, but as soon as we discovered there was a major similarity we wanted to inform industry," he said. "As far as ignition sources go, we are examining a number of pieces of electronic or mechanical items that could have provided a heat source to spark the fuel and trigger the explosion."

Investigators are far from saying what the fuel was. In Babine's case, they have narrowed it to natural gas, propane or ambient dust. They have not disclosed a shortlist for Lakeland.

It is also not known if there was possibly a small ignition source that was hot enough to trigger a bigger explosion, or if the first ignition and the entire blast were one.

WorkSafeBC ordered most of the sawmills in the province to clean up their dust, as a precaution since the Jan. 20 explosion at Babine Forest Products and the April 23 blast at Lakeland Mills. The workplace safety authority said Monday that all mills in the province were satisfactorily complying with the order.

One site, Canfor's sawmill in Mackenzie, had to shut down due to the order. It is the only one in the province ordered to do so, said Betty Pirs, the agency's vice-president of prevention services. She said it was an order that applied only to a chipper area of the millsite.

"The cleanup was ordered for excessive dust," she said. "The officer came back two days later and lifted the closure order because the mill had addressed the concern."