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100 Mile House firefighters pull an all-nighter at large Norbord fire

The fire was 50 by 80 feet but is now completely extinguished

Firefighters from 100 Mile Fire Rescue and the 108 Mile Ranch Volunteer Fire Department pulled an all-nighter on July 29.

“On July 28, at approximately 11:07 in the evening, 100 Mile Fire Rescue responded to a fire at the [Norbord] OSB Plant,” said Fire Chief Roger Hollander. “We arrived to a fire that was outside the plant and the OSB was on fire approximately 50 by 80 in size.”

Norbord staff were initially trying to control the fire with hose lines from the mill before the 100 Mile Fire Rescue took over the scene.

The 100 Mile department ended up calling the 108 Mile VFD for assistance with water and manpower. A total of 17 firefighters from both departments attended the scene.

They did not leave the scene until 9:23 a.m. on July 29.

“It was a fairly difficult fire in that was a large size and it was hard to fully extinguish because we needed to pull the piles apart and as you could imagine, there’s a lot of fuel load as we call it, all condensed into one area,” said Hollander.

The departments needed heavy machinery to pull apart the OSB piles, but the firefighters had to make sure the area was cool enough before bringing it in to pull the piles of wood apart.

The fire was completely extinguished when the departments left the scene. Nobody was injured during the course of the fire.

Before the 100 Mile firefighters returned to the station, they answered a call to a semi truck leaking diesel fuel along Highway 97. The crew requested the district of 100 Mile House public works crew to attend the scene to assist in the cleanup. The leak was contained before spilling into a storm drain.


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