Plum Creek MDF plant catches fire

An explosion at Plum Creek’s medium density fiberboard plant at about 3 p.m. on Tuesday, June 10, was heard across Columbia Falls and filled the town with acrid smoke.

“All employees are present and accounted for with no injuries,” Plum Creek spokeswoman Kathy Budinick announced about 45 minutes after the explosion.

Fire and emergency personnel responded from across the valley. Sixty-six workers and two contractors were successfully evacuated from the facility.

Firefighting efforts inside the plant were delayed as Flathead Electric Cooperative and NorthWestern Energy crews worked to shut off electrical power and gas lines serving the plant.

Fire personnel continued to arrive late into the evening, and some were still working in the plant around 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday.

“It’s too soon to say what caused the fire,” Budinick said not long after the explosion occurred.

The Flathead County Sheriff’s Office immediately responded to a report of workers who might have been injured or unable to get out, but deputies ended up mostly handling traffic.

“As with any big explosion, pretty much everything in there was on fire,” Flathead County sheriff Chuck Curry said, adding that several workers were treated for smoke inhalation.

Eyewitnesses near the MDF plant reported seeing flames 40 feet high, and several of the plant’s walls appeared to be blown out and separated from the building.

“I heard two or three loud explosions,” said Dorothy Downen, who lives near the fiberboard plant. “It shook my house.”

Olivia Lewis-Peterson was working at Angie’s Greenhouse on the U.S. 2 strip in Columbia Falls when she heard two explosions.

“And then I saw flames shoot into the air,” she said.

The greenhouse is about half a mile from the plant. An hour later, gray smoke continued to roll out of the plant.

Preliminary reports in the media that 50 or 60 people were unaccounted for led to a frenzy of activity on social media, as residents in Columbia Falls and around the Flathead shared news — and often rumors — about the fire.

Some media were able to confirm relatively quickly there were no casualties, but rumors on social media continued. One person refuted a rumor online by noting “there’s not even 54 employees at MDF at one time.”

Richard L. Peterson, who lives near the plant, recalled an explosion at the MDF plant several years ago.

“All that fine dust in there — all it takes is one little spark,” he said. “The whole thing goes up.”

The MDF plant uses powerful grinding machines to reduce wood into fibers that are treated with resin-based glue and squeezed at high pressure and temperature into panels. The fibers and sawdust can be very explosive when mixed with air.

Responding crews included the Columbia Falls, Evergreen, Whitefish, Bad Rock, Kalispell, Marion, West Valley and Glacier Park International Airport fire departments, Three Rivers EMS, the Flathead County Office of Emergency Services, the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, and the U.S. Border Patrol.