Maple Ridge and Mission firefighters battle shake mill fire
No one injured by blaze which engulfed half of S&W Forest Products' facility
Fire crews from Mission and Maple Ridge successfully contained a large mill fire just off Lougheed Highway around 5 a.m. PT Sunday morning.
Flames and heavy smoke could be seen from the highway coming from the mill, which is located at 9500 288th St. in Maple Ridge and owned by S&W Forest Products Ltd., a cedar shakes and singles producer.
Large mill fire in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MapleRidge?src=hash">#MapleRidge</a>. Crews from mission also responding. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/CBC?src=hash">#CBC</a> <a href="https://t.co/ldCIw47266">pic.twitter.com/ldCIw47266</a>
—@gplomacyFirefighters from both Maple Ridge and Mission fire departments responded to the blaze, which they say had engulfed up to one-half of the building and damaged a machine. There were no injuries.
"Gaining access is a bit of an issue, trying to manoeuvre around all the mill equipment that's inside and all of the different machines that they use, so that's a bit problematic," said Howard Exner, Maple Ridge deputy fire chief.
"Of course a mill also has really big hydro power coming into it so we have to take precautions for that as well."
Crews contained the fire just before 6 a.m. PT. Its cause is still under investigation.