Features Health & Safety Operations & Management Paper Pulp
Explosion at Fort Frances mill injures one worker

An employee was critically injured in an explosion at the biomass boiler of Resolute Forest Products’ Fort Frances mill. The incident occurred on Feb. 27. The employee has not been identified, and was transferred to a hospital in Toronto…

An employee was critically injured in an explosion at the biomass boiler of Resolute Forest Products’ Fort Frances mill. The incident occurred on Feb. 27. The employee has not been identified, and was transferred to a hospital in Toronto with burn injuries, according to a report in the Fort Frances Times.

Fort Frances Fire Chief Frank Sheppard told the local paper the blaze was contained mostly within boiler equipment, but partly escaped out into the area where the worker was injured.

“There was a lot of small spot fires and hotspots around where materials had blown out,” he stated. “From a fire perspective, it was relatively small,” he added. “But from an explosion perspective, it was significant.”

A spokesperson for Resolute said the boiler was back in operation later the same day, and expressed the company’s concern for the injured worker.