A backup boiler is to blame for a small electrical fire at Domtar’s Rothschild plant Monday morning.
Crews from SAFER, Riverside, and Kronenwetter fire departments were called to the scene shortly after 9:30 a.m.
Plant general manager Kathy Collins said the departments were called after the buildings fire alarm and sprinkler system were engaged. The building’s utilities and natural gas were shut off prior to the emergency crew’s arrival.
Riverside Fire District Co-Chief Robert Bowen said the fire was contained when crews arrived. It took crews around 20 minutes to secure the scene and identify the cause of the fire.
Yearly in-house visits to large plants like Domtar help emergency crews better prepare for incidents, and keep crews safe, should they occur. They map entrances, exists, sprinkler systems, and potential hazards.
“When we train here, we can have that knowledge first hand, and it kind of puts us ahead of the game when it comes to responding to a potential incident,” Bowen said.
There were no injuries and only minor damage reported. Collins said the building would be operational again in a matter of hours.
A wood-shavings plant caught fire Tuesday morning, two months after federal workplace safety officials cited the company for failing to correct “potential fire and explosion hazards.”
Fire crews from four towns responded to reports of a structure fire about 7:15 a.m. at RWS Manufacturing, 22 Ferguson Lane. The blaze extended from an outside conveyor that moved wood shavings to an inside storage facility, Kingsbury Fire Chief Butch Chase said. “Something may have malfunctioned,” he said.
Investigators do not consider the fire suspicious and no one was injured, Chase said. The fire was extinguished by 8 a.m. “It’s the nature of their business,” Chase said.
RWS — which makes animal bedding from wood shavings for Quebec-based Royal Wood Shavings — said in July it would shut down if it is not successful in appealing $197,820 in fines from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration. OSHA claims the plant is exposing its employees to “potential fire and explosion hazards.”
The equipment cited by OSHA was not involved in the blaze, Chase said. A county fire inspection of the plant last month did not identify any problems, he said.
“They are on good order with us,” Chase said. He said he has toured the facility in the past and responded to three other fires on the property in the past six years.
The wood shavings produced there smoke and smolder a lot, Chase said, “but seldom burst into flames.” The building itself was aflame Tuesday, he said.
RWS was operating when the fire started. Staff had safely evacuated the building and started to suppress the fire with hose lines when firefighters arrived, Chase said. The buildings’ sprinkler system stayed on as the fire crews extinguished the blaze.
“They have an extensive clean-up,” Chase said. RWS will undergo a town code inspection and fire chief walkthrough before opening again, he said.
In July, OSHA cited RWS for half a dozen violations totaling about $50,000 and levied an additional $147,000 in penalties after the company failed to fix previously identified violations.
The Queensbury plant, which operates in the Warren-Washington County Industrial Park, was cited for 28 violations in 2013 and fined more than $233,000 for workplace safety violations related to fire, fall and explosion risk. Two of those violations were deemed as “willful,” meaning the company ignored federal safety rules.
“RWS Manufacturing has disregarded its employees’ safety in failing to correct an obvious fire and explosion hazard and in allowing the existence of new and recurring hazards,” said Robert Garvey, OSHA’s area director in Albany in a July press release. “Especially disturbing is the fact that, since OSHA’s last inspection, a significant fire occurred in the plant’s production area in December 2015.”
The sprinkler system at Downie Timber Mill was crucial in containing a fire that broke out at the business on Tuesday night, Aug. 30.
Revelstoke Fire and Rescue Services (RFRS) responded to the fire, following a 911 call, at around 10 p.m. on Tuesday. Fire chief Rob Girard reported that the fire was electrical, possibly sparked by one of the large air compressors.
With 17 personnel from the Revelstoke Fire Rescue Services responding to the fire, it was out in less than 30 minutes with no injuries.
“Upon arrival, fire crews found heavy smoke pouring from the rear of the compressor building and sprinklers activated,” Girard said. “We immediately ventilated and had an attack crew enter the structure for the fire attack.”
There were no occupants in the building at the time and dealing with the fire was made easier due to the installed sprinkler system.
“The sprinkler system in the mill did a great job containing the fire to the area of origin,” Girard said, “without sprinklers this fire would have been a completely different matter for us.”
“Our hats are off to the great staff and management at Downie Timber Ltd. who helped us when we first arrived right through to mop up,” Girard said. “We all realize how important this facility is to the community.”
Reporting on lives and property saved by fire sprinklers
