More Safety Measures Planned After Fire at Pacific Bio Energy
By 250 News
Thursday, March 10, 2011 06:13 PM
Employee examines site of fire in cyclone connector pipe
Prince George, B.C.- Workers at Pacific Bioenergy on Willow Cale Road are cleaning up tonight in the wake of a fire in the connector pipe between cyclone’s 3 and 4.
The company’s General Manager of Operations, Tim Knoop, says the early morning fire started about three hours after crews had started a maintenance shut down cycle.
Knoop says the fire was contained in the pipe, no one was hurt and damage was minimal. "We have concluded our investigation and we will be adding some more sprinklers and sensors in the cyclones to reduce the risk of this happening again”
The on site crews put out the fire although City fire crews did arrive on scene.
The fire has meant that instead of a 12 hour shut down of production for maintenance, they are looking at a 36 hour shut down. Production won’t likely resume until the afternoon shift tomorrow.
Knoop says any time you try to dry wood fibre, you have to use high temperatures, and that means there is a risk of fire because the dust is highly combustible. “This fire was a little bit bigger than we would have liked, but we learn something every time, and we get better and better at dealing with it, and preventing future events.”
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Posted by: lonesome sparrow on March 10 2011 9:32 PM
Kind of makes you wonder if it is having this many problems. Is it the management or the equipment.