News
Fire at Prince George causes damage but no serious injuries
January 20, 2008 By Pulp & Paper Canada
Prince George, BC — Prince George Pulp and Paper restarted after it was temporarily shut down by a fire during the…
Prince George, BC — Prince George Pulp and Paper restarted after it was temporarily shut down by a fire during the night of January 15th that caused extensive damage to its chip building and chip conveyor system.
According to the Prince George Citizen, Canfor Pulp official David Scott said the mill would, however, operate at a reduced capacity until staff and crews figure out how to get chips into the digester.
“We have put together a project team who is responsible for assessing the damage and putting together a plan, and implementing that plan to start to get our chips back into our digester as quickly as possible,” said Scott is quoted as saying by the Citizen. “We are very lucky at our operations. We have a very experienced workforce and a very experienced management team, so I know they’ll figure out a way of getting that done.”
Canfor confirmed that the damage was confined to the chip processing and chip in-feed facilities. The digesters and other components of the mill as well as on site chip inventories were unaffected by the fire.
The company is investigating chip in-feed alternatives to minimize production disruptions. In the interim, the paper machine and pulp bleaching and repulping components of the mill have been restarted to satisfy customer supply commitments.
The Partnership’s adjacent Intercontinental Pulp mill and its larger Northwood Pulp mill were unaffected by the fire and normal operations continued at both mills.
Until the duration of the production disruption is determined and estimates of repair costs can be made, the financial impact cannot be accurately estimated. However, based on current information including insurance coverage, this incident is not expected to have a material effect on the financial condition of the Partnership.
An investigation into the fire is underway but the cause of the fire is still unknown.
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