Fiery finger of blame points at demolition company after Montana blaze.
Firefighters doused hot spots throughout the day Monday after a fire sparked in a debris pile ripped through one of the tallest buildings at the former Smurfit-Stone Container Corp. pulp mill in Frenchtown, Montana.
The fire started in a large pile of rubber and metal debris, then quickly spread seven stories up and into the roof of the Kamyr building.
The building is in the former pulp section of the mill, “where you had the chips coming in to be cooked. There was wood buildup in the walls,” said Pat Clevenger, site project manager.
The hazardous conditions inside the building and the debris outside made the fire tough work for the Frenchtown Rural Fire Department, which responded to the site around 6:30 p.m. Sunday.
“It started out as a fairly small fire and grew pretty quickly just because our guys couldn’t get great access because the building was unstable. It was the rubbish pile that was burning and we couldn’t get very close,” Frenchtown firefighter Mel Holtz said Monday morning.
Many firefighters remained at the site Monday evening, dumping water on the building’s roof to kill a hot spot.
A blasting crew had been working at the site, but left just before the fire was reported. No one was injured in the fire. Clevenger believes the fire was caused by a spark from the shearing crew’s equipment. “It appears the only thing that would have caused it,” he said.
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