Prince George, B.C. – The hospital and health care system right across the northern network is being mobilized by Northern Health tonight to deal with an extremely serious situation near Burns Lake.

 

North District RCMP Media Relations Officer Const. Lesley Smith says that at about 8:15 this evening the Babine Forest Products Service Mill, about 20 kilometres outside Burns Lake, was rocked by an explosion and fire.  

 

The United Steelworkers Union says up to 25 people would have been working in the sawmill, another 20 in the planer mill, and there would also be maintenance workers on site for a possible 80 people at the operation at the time of the explosion.  

 

It is not clear if there have been any fatalities, however Steve Raper with Northern Health says its his understanding several people have been injured, an unknown number of them very seriously.   B.C. Ambulance crews arriving from throughout the region on highways blasted by a winter snowstorm are taking the injured to Lake District Hospital in Burns Lake for assessment.   The hospital there is simply unable to cope with a disaster of this scope, so some of the injured will be transported to locations where they can receive the medical care they require.

 

The Steelworkers Union is trying to arrange transportation for family members who are trying to accompany the injured to outlying hospitals, which could conceivably include University Hospital in Prince George.