Date: January 2, 2019
Location: Eaganville, Ontario (CA)
Address: 2057 Foymount Road, K0J 1T0
Type: Dust Fire
Fuel: Wood Dust
Industry: Lumber Processing (Wood Products)
Equipment: Dust Collector
Company: Lavern Heideman & Sons
Database Incidents: None Recorded
Loss: No Injuries
Capital Cost: Millions
Status: Open
Confirmation: Unconfirmed
Company Description:
According to the company website, Lavern Heideman & Sons is a family-owned forestry company that has been in operation since 1974. Headquartered in Eaganville, Ontario, it employs over 150 people in its various divisions, which include forest management, two sawmills, a remanufacturing operation, a planing mill, and a distribution yard.
Incident Description:
On January 3, 2019, Wood Business reported a fire at a lumber yard near Pembroke, Ontario.
According to the CBC, the fire started on January 2nd at around 8:00 p.m. in a dust collector, which then collapsed onto a hydro transformer and interrupted electrical service in the city. The Ottawa Citizen reported that around a dozen employees who were working at the time quickly evacuated.
Firefighters were still on the scene at 7:00 a.m. the next morning, checking for hot spots. The fire destroyed the sawmill building, which was later torn down to better douse areas that continued to smoulder.
After the flames were extinguished, hydro crews had to make repairs needed to restore power to nearly 3,000 homes in Pembroke. The mayor said that the town was left in darkness, with a red haze lighting up the horizon.
No one was injured, but property damage was estimated to be worth millions of dollars.
Sources:
Wood Business
CBC
Ottawa Citizen
