Posted on 04/19/2020 6:17:09 AM PDT by billorites
There has been an explosion at the Androscoggin Mill in Jay.
Franklin County Sheriff's Dept. says crews are responding and entrances to the mill on Crash Road and Riley Road are closed.
Maine Department of Public Safety spokesperson Steve McCausland said plant managers told the Fire Marshals Office that all employees and contractors have been accounted for with no injuries. Seven fire departments responded and dealt with a small fire inside the plant.
Pixelle Specialty Solutions released a statement Wednesday saying at approximately 11:55 a.m. there was an apparent rupture in a pressure vessel in the pulp mill that released a mixture of wood fiber, water and pulping liquor.
"We are in the preliminary stages of assessing the situation. First and foremost is our concern for the safety of our employees, contractors, and visitors on our mill site."
The press release confirmed everyone on-site is accounted for and there are no injuries.
Fire officials held a press briefing at 4 p.m. Wednesday. Joel Davis, of the State of Maine Fire Marshal's Office, said Wednesday at 12:06 p.m. the Jay Fire and Police Depts. received reports of an explosion at the mill.
Upon arrival, they found there had been an explosion in the digester part of the mill, leading to concerns of chemicals being involved. The digester is part of the pulping process, where wood chips are cooked to reduce them into fiber for the paper making process.
There was a small fire on the roof of the mill, and significant damage to the digester area of the mill.
Davis said there were a couple instances of respiratory problems due to the dust and debris, but people were treated and released. Davis explained that fortunately no one works in the digester area directly, so there were no injuries.
"After Farmington seven months ago, we were fearing the worst today," Davis said. "But by the grace of God, it turned out much different."
The Fire Marshal's Office will begin its investigation Thursday morning.
Roxie Lassetter, human resources manager for Pixelle, also spoke at the briefing and said no injuries from the explosion is "nothing short of a miracle."
Lassetter said there 500 employees that work at the mill, and at the time of the explosion estimates there were around 165 to 175 employees working. "No one was in the immediate vicinity, which was certainly helpful."
Explosion in a pulp mill? Does this signal a run on toilet paper?
Just saw a different video on Facebook that was much closer. I’ll try to post it
Wow. Thank God no one was hurt.
L
I suppose if you have enough saw dust particulate floating in a closed area it could act like a fuel air explosion.
“...released a mixture of wood fiber, water and pulping liquor...”
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Hmmm...”pulping liquor”. Must be some VERY potent liquor. /s
Wow..,AWESOME video. Be sure to watch all the way through.
Here is closer video... it’s from Facebook not sure if will play with having an account
https://www.facebook.com/mike.joslyn.3/videos/10157998502582521/?d=n
*without an account
Worked at a millwork plant in Amarillo for 20 years. I was over a depatrment that had a door sander that had 8 belts, 42” x 84”, sanded doors from 36 grit to 120 grit top and bottom. Unit was about 80’ long. The sanding drum bearings were oiled by a system that constantly fed 10 wt oil. The belts were aligned by photocells. One of the cells was blocked by wood dust. The belt tracked off the roller into one of the oil lines. The sparks lit the oil, which caused the wood dust across the whole sander setup. HUGE explosion. I was at lunch, about a half block away (this was a huge plant), and heard it. I ran outside, and saw smoke coming from my building. When I got there, the building was full of smoke. We ran the sander during lunch to keep up with door production. There was a dust collection system which fed into a cyclone system outside of the building. The pipe from the sander to the cyclone shook violently, and threw the 400 lb. cast iron impeller off. A real mess. Since most of the people in the building were at lunch, and the operators on the sander were at the input and output ends, nobody was hurt.
Them Maine truck drivers curse like sailors!
If I were in one of those trucks this flatlander from MA would be too
crash Road...
The mill produces coated paper, not TP. Or it did, anyway.
Probably Sodium Hydroxide or Sodium Sulfide. Nasty stuff.
Enviro wacko sabotage to save the forests is a likely cause of the fire
Pressure explosion.
We had a sander dust silo that went kaboom when I was at one mill. Pretty darned destructive.
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