19 injured and two missing as Canadian saw mill explodes - Polidicks

[img]http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/6033123.bin?size=620x400s[/img][img]http://www.timescolonist.com/news/6030523.bin?size=620x400s[/img] [quote]Herb Neville was being as optimistic as he could be Sunday about the recovery of his son, Sid, who was one of three workers sent to Vancouver General Hospital for treatment after a massive fire Friday that devastated the Burns Lake, B.C., sawmill. “He’s getting the best of care,” said Herb of his son, who received third-degree burns. “He’s going to recover. “He might be scarred,” added Neville. “It might be six months before he gets back to work — I don’t know at this point.” Neville isn’t sure exactly how his son is doing because he’s only spoken to him briefly since the accident, which injured a total of 19 workers, with two people still unaccounted for. “I’ve talked to him a bit but he’s drugged up so much that it’s really hard to tell,” said Herb. Neville said there are a lot of rumours going around Burns Lake about the cause of the fire but the ex-logger has visited a lot of mills and knows there’s an inherent danger in the operation. “Cutting through this dry wood creates a lot of fine dust, just like a grain elevator,” said Herb. “That can explode, just about like gas. That was one possibility. “One little spark and it can take off. If there’s enough dust, it will explode. That’s just one scenario.” The investigation of the fire, which may also have taken two lives, won’t be resolved quickly. Const. Leslie Smith, RCMP media spokesperson for the North District, said Sunday that authorities have not been able to account for two people who were supposed to be working at the time of the fire. But the site must be deemed safe before investigators enter what remains of the mill. “We don’t know when we are going to enter that site,” Smith said. “It’s got to be deemed safe by a structural engineer.” When clearance is given, Smith said the search will be “methodical.” “They’re going to be going through the rubble and debris not only for evidence to determine a cause of the fire, but also in the event they find some (human) remains,” she said. Smith said a structural engineer has been brought in by WorkSafeBC and visited the site Sunday. Mill owner Hampton Affiliates also has a structural engineer and planning is under way for the safest way to investigate what’s left on the site. In the meantime, Premier Christy Clark arrived Sunday in Burns Lake and more than 150 people filled Margaret Patrick Memorial Centre to hear from her. The premier was welcomed with a prayer and song. A song was also offered to the workers who are missing. Voices of the native singers rose and fell in a haunting lament, filling the hall, and some people wept openly, turning to each other for comfort. “Everybody in British Columbia today are praying for those two members of the community that are still missing,” said Clark. “I have faith they will come back to us,” she said. Clark praised the work of health-care providers, some of whom worked 36 hours straight. She also said the province would support the community — receiving a standing ovation from the crowd — but didn’t say how that support would be manifested. Two candles were lighted in hopes the missing workers will be found. “We’ll bring them home. We’ll bring them home. We have hope,” said an emotional family member who helped light the candle. Earlier, workers huddled together in the centre, their heads pressed together, talking through their experiences from the mill explosion. Some are still trying to figure out where two missing workers could be located in the destroyed sawmill. “I think, let’s go over the (RCMP) blockade and look for ourselves” sawmill worker Melvin Joseph told those gathered at the hall from an open microphone set up to let people air their feelings. “This is a very sad moment,” he said. The hall has been opened around the clock by the Lake Babine Nation to provide a place for workers, their families and community members to grieve and receive support. The RCMP’s North District regional general investigative unit is busy interviewing employees of the Babine Forest Products mill, as well as witnesses. The fire commissioner’s office will participate in the search of the site, which will also require large equipment operators. The B.C. Coroner’s Service has been notified of the possible need for its assistance. Twenty-five employees were on shift at the time of the fire. The two men who remain unaccounted for, according to reports, are Robert Luggi of Burns Lake, who is in his early 40s, and Carl Charlie, the son of a local elder. Wilf Adam, the chief of the Lake Babine Nation, said he has talked to several workers who say they warned of a gas smell on the morning shift on Friday. One worker, who was outside the mill when a huge explosion occurred Friday night, told Adam it blew the roof off the building. At a debriefing Saturday at the Margaret Patrick Memorial Hall, officials from Hampton Affiliates, the Portland, Ore.-based owner of the sawmill, provided few answers to questions about the natural gas smell and why the mill was not shut down, said Adam. Natural gas is used to fire large buildings, called kilns, where lumber is dried. “There had better be (answers),” said Adam, noting that 40 per cent of the workers at the mill were from the Lake Babine Nation. “Most of the employees are really mad. This was preventable.” Many workers said they were under a lot of pressure to keep production at a high pace at the mill, added Adam. “They were being pushed,” he said. The hall will be kept open for several days. People can also get food there, said Adam. \Members of the public will be updated about the situation Monday at a community meeting at 7 p.m. at the Island Gospel Church, by representatives from the Burns Lake Native Development Corporation, the Burns Lake Band, the Village of Burns Lake, the Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako, the Burns Lake Volunteer Fire Department, the Burns Lake RCMP and Hampton Affiliates. Condition of the victims ranges from minor to critical, and includes some with severe burns. Three of the five most severely injured workers — suffering from burns — are from the First Nation, noted Adam. One of them is now at the burn unit at Vancouver General Hospital and another was transported to the University of Alberta hospital, said Adam. A total of two victims of the incident are in Edmonton while one of the patients at University Hospital of Northern B.C. in Prince George was accepted Sunday for transferral to VGH. The patient won’t be flown out until Monday because of weather conditions. Three other patients, also in stable condition, remain in hospital in Prince George but another three were discharged Sunday. Two patients had initially been sent to Bulkley Valley Hospital in Smithers but one was sent Saturday to Victoria’s Royal Jubilee Hospital in stable condition and the other was released. One patient remains in stable condition at St. John Hospital in Vanderhoof. Because of patient confidentiality, Vancouver Coastal Health spokesman Arthur Yee could only give limited details. He said the first two patients from Burns Lake arrived Saturday in critical condition but are now relatively stable and requiring critical care. A third patient arrived later Saturday in serious condition but is now relatively stable. The patient accepted for transferral Monday, said Yee, is in serious condition requiring critical care. Jonathon Dyck of Northern Health was similarly restricted, but he did characterize the incident as a “major disaster.” He couldn’t say if the accident was among the biggest in Northern Health history. “It’s definitely one of the biggest incidents in Burns Lake,” said Dyck, who had been speaking Saturday to a hospital employee who has worked in the community for 25 years. “She said it was the biggest disaster she’s ever seen out there,” said Dyck. The incident resulted in a normally rare Code Orange to mobilize resources all the way from Prince George to Smithers. It was most serious such Code Orange in recent memory, with the two others in the last four months being the result of apartment fires in Prince George. Fundraising has already begun to help with the after-effects of the incident. Donations to the Lakes District Tragedy Fund can be made to any Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce Branch in B.C. or at the Village of Burns Lake office. [/quote] [url=http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Mystery+mill+explosion+will+take+time+solve/6034659/story.html]**SOURCE**[/url]

My uncle moved to this saw mill after the one in Prince George burned down a few years back, only to have this one explode as well while he was on his shift. Fantastic luck [editline]23rd January 2012[/editline] also my uncle said that he and some others had reported a smell of gasoline earlier that day but the supervisors never did anything about it and that could have been what caused the explosion, but noone really knows for sure

[QUOTE=Pandamox;34354112]My uncle moved to this saw mill after the one in Prince George burned down a few years back, only to have this one explode as well while he was on his shift. Fantastic luck[/QUOTE] Clearly your uncle is cursed.

Hopefully those 2 unaccounted for arent dead

Wow...the aftermath looks awful. Hope those two guys are okay.

Dust control is absolutely critical in industrial settings. Things like dust filters or vent systems can go unmaintained because they don't seem particularly important until its too late. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZLRbVw3RnM[/media] The flammability of certain things in particulate form is really scary.

Dust will fuck things up.

Dust is not something you want to fuck around with. Grain Mills have an annoying habit of randomly exploding as well when not properly ventilated.

1/23 never forget god bless canada [editline]23rd January 2012[/editline] In all seriousness, this is horrible.

Looks like something similar: [video=youtube;Jg7mLSG-Yws]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jg7mLSG-Yws[/video]

There's a pl_sawmill now?