Mill workers temporarily back at work in Burns Lake

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BURNS LAKE (NEWS1130) – Around 40 people are temporarily back at work in Burns Lake after a sawmill was destroyed by an explosion and fire.

Two people were killed and another 250 were thrown out of work during the January 20 tragedy at the Babine Forest Products mill.

Hampton Affiliates‘ Steve Zika, which owns the mill, says workers will plane and prepare for shipment about 14 million board feet of lumber that was already cut.

The Babine tragedy was the first of two fatal mill fires in the province this year. Two more workers were killed and two dozen were injured at the Lakeland Mills sawmill in Prince George on April 23.

Twenty-two employees are currently working in the planer mill at Lakeland to process the wood stored at the site. The mill will then shut down again once the wood is gone.

Lakeland says even though no decision has been made on the future of the operation, conditions remain positive to restart the planer mill and rebuild the sawmill when investigations into the explosion are complete.

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