Bear MountainPellet Plant fire ON 1/18/07

[hearthtools]

http://www.kgw.com/news-local/stories/kgw_011807_news_pellet_fire.529d877a.html

Crews battle fire at wood pellet factory

03:40 PM PST on Thursday, January 18, 2007

By KGW Staff

Cascade Locks -- A three alarm fire broke out Thursday at Bear Mountain Forest Products.

KGW

An assistant manager at the plant said all employees were evacuated as fire crews arrived.

The extent of damage is unknown and firefighters don’t yet know how it started.

Bear Mountain is a major producer of pellet stove pellets, which are in short supply this winter.

 

[hearthtools]

After The Rumor about a pellet mill Fire was put to bed
NOW THEY DO HAVE ONE.

http://www.fresnobee.com/170/story/24558.html

 

[restorer]

After The Rumor about a pellet mill Fire was put to bed
NOW THEY DO HAVE ONE.

http://www.fresnobee.com/170/story/24558.html

At least this is real. Can someone in that area let us know how extensive and what burned. A three alarm at a sight full of fuel seems rather tame. We burned a printing plant and it's paper warehouse to the ground and it was and 11 alarm, 2.2 million gallons of water and hour and it smoldered for three days. Let's hope it was the employee lunchroom, and not the processor.

Nothing against the employees, they can deal with the Roach Coaches for a month or so, but stopped production by a major producer could be serious for the industry.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

It's hard to think of a more volitile possibility than a factory of dried sawdust on fire. I'm glad everybody got out.

 

[Andre B.]

It's hard to think of a more volitile possibility than a factory of dried sawdust on fire. I'm glad everybody got out.

Oil refinery.

 

[moralleper]

It turns out that the fire did not damage the pellet side of the factory just the press log side. they said that this should not affect pellet production or supply after all.

 

[hearthtools]

Fire damages Cascade Locks pellet factory
Friday, January 19, 2007

A three-alarm fire burned parts of a Cascade Locks wood pellet factory Thursday, further pinching the region's dwindling supply of the popular heating source.

Cascade Locks fire officials responded about 3 p.m. to the fire at Bear Mountain Forest Products on Forest Lane. Fire Chief Jeff Pricher said no one was injured in the fire. However a factory shed, which stored sawdust for making the wood pellets, was destroyed and a pellet-storage warehouse was partially burned.

Officials had no dollar estimate of damages but said about 20 percent of the factory's pellets burned.
Wood pellets power pellet-burning stoves, an increasingly popular and cost-efficient form of home heating. The fuel is in short supply because of the stoves' growing popularity, lack of pellet manufacturers and a raw material shortage caused by a slump in the housing market that has slowed production of lumber and its by-product, sawdust.

Bear Mountain Forest Products, one of the largest pellet producers in the West, manufactures 110,000 tons of pellets annually, according to Stan Elliot, sales and marketing manager.

Fire officials said the cause of the fire was unknown. They said the fire started in the back of the factory in a shed attached to one of the main warehouses, then spread to a warehouse.

The fire closed Forest Lane to traffic and shut down the Union Pacific train tracks that run through downtown. Fire officials estimate the tracks and the road will remain closed at least until 6 p.m. Thursday.

 

[bcnu]

Bear Mtn. and their other brand Golden Fire were my pellets of choice. I would buy 2 tons each summer an they were running $ 169 ton on sale. Who knows what they will cost now. Luckily, the pellet stove is in our house that's for sale(or maybe that's unfortunately) and we are living in a house with oil heat($2.29 a gallon) and hoping to get the new wood stove in along with the current remodel. At those prices I may even consider paying for some cords of good hardwood.

 

[begreen]

Bummer. Yes i've tried GoldenFires too, good product. They don't mention on the fire yet on their website but do mention the pellet shortage. They hint at new plants to be coming online, so maybe they are expanding?? I'll ask.