AT ATTENTION (Left to right) 950 RM RANG RCACC, Royal Canadian Army Cadet Corp, Justin Irvine, Jasmine French, Cole Dutton and Zabrina Bourassa prepare for ceremonies for their 90th anniversary at the Merritt Civic Centre on Saturday. Besides the Annual Ceremony Review, the event also included a banquet. The cadet program is free to boys and girls from ages 12 to 18. Phillip Woolgar/Herald
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TUESDAY, JUNE 12, 2012 • MERRITT NEWSPAPERS
No cause identified yet in Tolko mill fire By Phillip Woolgar THE HERALD
reporter@merrittherald.com
Flames ignited a portion of the main mill at Tolko Industries Ltd. in Merritt about 8:50 p.m. Wednesday — no one was injured. Merritt RCMP Const. Tracy Dunsmore said the fire isn’t similar to two deadly explosions that devastated Burns Lake and Prince George earlier this year. “No explosions were reported or believed to have been the cause of the fire and further investigation will not be attempted until the fire has cooled and investigators can safely enter the scene,” she said, shortly after the fire started. Tolko spokeswoman Sheri Greeno said the fire did not occur in the sawmill operational area. “That unit houses a suction unit that collects fumes and metal shavings from saw filing and grinding equipment,” she said. “The fire did
enter the wall attached to the sawmill.” High dust levels are the suspected cause of the explosions at Prince George’s Lakeland Mill and at Babine Forest Products in Burns Lake. Operations have stopped in Merritt until an investigation is completed by WorkSafeBC, which had already investigated B.C. mills in May after a mandatory inspection order following the two mill explosions. WorkSafeBC spokeswoman Megan Johnston said the agency has inspected the Merritt Tolko four times since the order in April. The latest inspection was on May 25. “Our officer noted significant progress to control the risk from combustable dust, and compliance with orders that were issued to the employer,” she said. “Our officer inspected the site [again] on
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Firefighters contained the blaze at Tolko Industries Ltd. within an hour and prevented its spread Wednesday evening. Ian Webster/Herald
area through void spaces in the wall.” The Merritt fire crew also responded to a small sawdust blaze at Aspen Planers Ltd. on Sunday,
which was quickly contained. Officials from Lakeland Mills welcomed approximately 20 workers back after the planer mill was restarted last week.
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Thursday. “The initial report indicated the fire began in a bag house structure that is located outside of the mill, but it is connected to the mill. It doesn’t appear to be dust that started this.” Investigators said yesterday (Monday) that they couldn’t identify the fire’s cause, but foul play is ruled out. WorkSafeBC ordered an incident investigation to determine the fire’s cause before work can resume in that building. The Merritt Fire Rescue Department contained the blaze within an hour, preventing its spread. Fire Chief Dave Tomkinson said Thursday that his crew was on site trying to determine the blaze’s cause. “We had 22 firefighters out there to contain the blaze before it could spread,” he said. “The fire had spread inside an exterior wall from ground floor through to the fourth
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