A potentially disastrous mill fire, which spontaneously erupted in a waste pile at the Whitevalley Tolko Mill, was snuffed out by firefighters in Lumby, BC early Wednesday morning.
Although the blaze was small, sitting near the log yard amongst additional sawmill waste, “it had the potential to be quite disastrous,” said Lumby fire chief Tony Clayton to the Vernon Morning Star.
And although it was just a small piece of the pile that was burning, thermal camera imaging showed hot spots throughout a significant portion of the pile. Lumby firefighters actioned the blaze for six hours until it was safe for Tolko to take over with sprinklers on the pile.
