Merritt mill fire could have been worse

All-out efforts by sawmills across British Columbia to clean up sawdust after two deadly mill explosions earlier this year probably meant a fire at a local mill was prevented from being much worse, the city's fire chief says.

The fire broke out in a compressor room in the main mill of the Tolko Industries operation in the Nicola Valley on Wednesday.

No one was hurt and only the one area of the mill was damaged, said RCMP Cst. Tracey Dunsmore.

"The one (explosion) up north is probably scaring a lot of people when they hear there's another mill on fire, but there doesn't appear to be any kind of explosion and the source wasn't from any of the sawdust piles or anything like that," she said in an interview.

But Merritt Fire Chief Dave Tomkinson said industry-wide vigilance in response to the mill explosions in Prince George and Burns Lake probably helped ensure the Tolko mill wasn't destroyed.

"It had potential, most definitely, but I think the housekeeping of the mill and the work they've been doing of late certainly helped limit the spread of the fire," he said.

Two people were killed in each of the mill explosions earlier this year. After the Lakeland Mill in Prince George was flattened in April, WorkSafeBC ordered mills across the province to crack down on sawdust buildup.

Tomkinson said the Merritt fire is not considered suspicious, and the building's mechanical and electrical systems are likely the culprit.

Dunsmore said work would begin on figuring out an exact cause of the fire after the embers cooled down.

(CHNL, CFJC)