Lakeland Mills fire as seen from Cranbrook Hill at approximately 10:30pm Monday evening  photo courtesy Chris Leboe

Prince George, BC – Prince George Fire Rescue says 50 employees were on-shift and five remain unaccounted for following a major explosion and ensuing fire at Lakeland Mills in the CNR Industrial site in Prince George this evening.

Witnesses in the city’s Bowl area report hearing the explosion which occurred just after 9:30pm.  Fire Chief John Lane says there were 25 employees working in the planer mill, and another 25 in the sawmill.  He says the sawmill was completely engulfed in flames, which the picture above shows shooting into the night sky.

Firefighters have managed to contain the sawmill blaze and a Police Dog Service team is on-site, searching for the mill workers who are missing.

Chief Lane says four employees in the lunchroom narrowly escaped injury when the walls caved in after the explosion.

So far, a total of 20 people have received treatment at the scene or been transferred to the University Hospital of Northern BC, where a Code Orange emergency has been declared to mobilize all resources to treat the wounded.

As of 11:20pm this evening, a total of 12 injured mill workers had arrived at UHNBC.  Director of Communications, Steve Raper, says no condition updates are available, but they range from minor to serious.  Another 11 were scheduled to arrive shortly.

Raper says Northern Health will be posting bulletins on its website overnight at www.northernhealth.ca

Lakeland Mills experienced a fire that was described at the time as ‘relatively minor in nature’ in early February.  At that time, the blaze broke out in the last stage of the sawdust collection system.  (click here, for previous story)