Interfor fire leaves minor damage
By Mona Mattei
Damage to the Grand Forks sawmill was limited when fire teams quickly contained flames ignited by demolition work on Tuesday, Dec. 20.
The fire broke out in the early morning at International Forest Products Ltd. (Interfor), said Blair McGregor, fire chief for the City of Grand Forks.
“They were taking out some of the old sawmill that is no longer being used and they had wet everything down, but because the building is so old a cutting torch set off the fire and it got into the wall and went up into the roof,” McGregor explained. “A lot of it was controlled by the staff at Interfor when we got there.”
General Manager Andrew Horahan told the Sentinel the fire was minor and that there was no damage to their operations.
It took a couple of hours for the fire team of 15 men and two trucks to confirm that there were no hotpots remaining.
“It’s one of those things when you’re working on an old building like that,” McGregor added, saying the damage was primarily cosmetic.
