Fire continues to flare up at Williams Lake, B.C., sawmill

Crews spent the weekend at Tolko's Lakeview sawmill in Williams Lake, B.C., putting out flare-ups of a fire that started on Thursday night.

"It's unfortunately proving a little more stubborn, but they are making good progress," said Tolko spokesperson Janice Lockyer.

"It's in the sawmill and it's mostly out.There's just some that's tracked in the ceiling a bit so that's where they're having the difficulty of extinguishing."

Structural engineers to inspect site

The cause of the fire has yet to be identified and the full extent of the damageis still unknown. Structural engineers have not been able to do a detailed inspectionof the mill site because of the active fire.

"You can see from the exterior, they had to pull some cladding things off so the sawmill offices have taken a hit down there," said Lockyer.

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Paul French, the first vice president of United Steelworkers Local 1-2017, says the union is waiting to hear from the company about how long the sawmill will be closed.

"Our fear is what do we do. Is this going to be a long-term, short-term? Where do we go?" said French.

He said he will be keeping employees informed about the status of the sawmill as he finds out more from the company.

"Everyone is watching and everyone is concerned. This is a major employer for the community," said French.

Safety is first priority: Tolko

The company had planned on running three shifts at the nearby Lakeview planer mill as of Monday, but Lockyer said it wasn't clear if that was still going to happen.

"We're not going to do anything that would put anyone in any kind of jeopardy or danger so we'll return to operations when we know it's safe to do so."

She credits the employees for safely evacuating the mill last week, and said she is confident that when a recovery plan is in placethey will have the mill up and running as soon as possible.

"The crew at Williams Lake is resilientand they are a dedicated bunch of people," said Lockyer.

The fire affects about 175 employees.