WorkSafeBC investigators were on the scene Thursday, the day after an explosion and fire rocked West Fraser Ltd.'s medium density fibreboard mill in Quesnel.
All 30 or so employees who were on the site were safely evacuated from the WestPine MDF plant, located on the north side of the community of 9,160 people 116 kilometres south of Prince George.
WorkSafeBC vice president of prevention-field services Al Johnson said the blast occurred at about 5:30 p.m., when there was a shif change. It was located in a fibre bin area, in the vicinity of four bag house towers that "may or may not have been involved" in the explosion.
"This fibre bin area is in an outside area that is adjacent to the production area of the mill," Johnson said. "So it's a separate area but of course it's in close proximity to the mill as well."
It's not the first time the plant has been the scene of an explosion. In 2011, a section of ductwork in the dust conveyance system was blown out in another part of the plant.
No one was injured and remedial actions were taken, Johnson said.
He said it's the only MDF plant currently operating in the province. It presses wood waste into particle board using glue and chemicals along with high pressure and high temperature.
Johnson said he's not sure if the plant has been processing beetle-killed pine but added a lot of sawmills are now back to processing green wood. But he also said that for an MDF plant, drier is probably better, "because they are using small fibre and sawdust."
How long investigators will be on the site, Johnson could not say.
"We'll be there until we're done our information gathering stage," he said. "If they can get back up and running, then we'll certainly accommodate that and not be a negative influence in that regard, but also we want to make sure that this site is healthy and safe."
Although there were no injuries, Johnson said the incident was "very much a concerning thing."
