Log Yard Fire at West Fraser Sawmill in Chetwynd, B.C. Destroys Thousands of Logs

News 1130, a Vancouver based AM radio station, is reporting a major fire at the West Fraser Sawmill in Chetwynd, British Columbia (northern) on Thursday. The fire reportedly started in the log yard around 2:30 PM MST.

According to Chetwynd Mayor Allen Courtoreille, the wind carried sparks from one pile to another. “It was in one spot, then it moved. Logs, laying on the ground, would burn upward. But the fire appears to have moved west. Sparks must have flown. The West Fraser Mill was moving some of the logs — anything they could extract from getting in any danger, so they could take some of the fuel away.”

The mayor believes the mill itself was spared any damage.

Chetwynd only has a volunteer fire department, so more volunteers from the nearby Moberly Lake volunteer fire department also responded. Courtoreille says the BC Wildfire Service also helped, and two helicopters dropped water, concentrating on a wooded area adjacent to the mill.


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