Weyerhaeuser plywood plant has fire in dust collection system

Firefighters from Columbia Falls with assistance from Bad Rock and Whitefish spent more than two hours Friday evening putting out a fire at the Weyerhaeuser plywood plant in Columbia Falls.

Columbia Falls fire chief Rick Hagen said the fire started in the bag house portion of the plywood plant. The bag house separates dust from the mill into bags. While the bag house has a sophisticated fire control system, a fire was able to ignite in the structure and some bags of dust were burned as a result.

The first call came in about 8:20 p.m. and crews were off the scene about 10:55 p.m. Hagen said. He did not know the cause of the blaze or have a damage estimate. No one was injured.

“Damage was very minor and we appreciated the excellent response from the Columbia Falls Fire Department,” said Tom Ray, Montana Resources Team Leader for Weyerhaeuser. He said the plant is able to use a different dust collection system until the other one can be repaired and the exact cause of the fire determined.