Quesnel, B.C. – In the wake of last week’s explosion and fire at the Westpine MDF  plant in Quesnel,  West Fraser’s President and CEO  Ted Seraphim, says the company  plans to rebuild  and reopen that facility.

In a statement  issued this morning,  Serpahim praises the Westpine  employees  for “the strength and  professionalism” they have  shown  during the  explosion and fire  that  took place  on Wednesday  March 9th and in  the days following the event.  “We will ensure they continue to receive the full support of our company and all of the resources we can provide” states Seraphim.

While stating the company is committed to  repairing and restarting Westpine,  Serpahim says  that won’t happen until “we complete our investigation, determine the root cause of what failed inside the MDF forming process equipment, and are confident we have the solution in place to ensure a similar incident can never happen again.”  He says the operation will not restart “until we know it  is safe.”

Seraphim says in the meantime, all  Westpine employees will  remain “fully employed”  as clean up and repair activities  get underway  and  are completed.

He also  offers  a special thank you to  the emergency services personnel,  particularly the Quesnel Volunteer Fire Department “who responded so quickly and ably last Wednesday night to protect and help our people.”

The cause of the  explosion and fire have  yet to be determined and  a damage estimate has not been released.  WorkSafe BC is investigating.