It was a very busy weekend for the Quesnel Volunteer Fire Department, including a fire at the West Fraser Plywood Plant.
Fire Chief Sylvain Gauthier says they responded to a fire in the chip bin at around 9 o’clock on Saturday night…
“On arrival buy the duty officer the fire could be seen going about 20-25 feet above the chip bin and the chip bin was basically glowing red when we arrived on scene.”
Gauthier says they had to cut the power to the mill…
“One of the big issues was right where the chip bin is is some major power lines close by so we had to ensure that these power lines were safe, and power was turned off before any fire fighting operation could tale place. And that took a bit of time because once the power was turned off it basically shut the power down to the entire mill, which create some issues in trying to open up those bins since we needed power for the hydraulic system.”
No one was hurt but the employees were evacuated as a precaution.
Gauthier says they were on scene for around 3 1/2, four hours.
Fire fighters also responded to two grass fires in the Red Bluff area, one on Lawlor Road Friday evening and the other on Sunday afternoon on Red Bluff Road near the Richbar Golf Course
Gauthier says they each took around an hour to put out as well.