Four towns fight fire at paper mill
12/17/09 | 16 comments
Katahdin Paper

Four towns fight fire at paper mill


By Nick Sambides Jr.
BDN Staff

EAST MILLINOCKET, Maine — Firefighters from four towns spent about seven hours Wednesday battling a fire that consumed several tons of recycled newsprint amid miserably smoky, foggy and icy conditions at the Katahdin Paper Co. LLC mill.

As many as 300 rectangular blocks of tightly wrapped newsprint were damaged or destroyed, Fire Chief Les Brown said. Each was about 4 feet high by 10 feet long and they were piled together in a mound up to 25 feet tall in a 100-by-100 foot area at the center of the mill’s football field-size recycling warehouse.

It was fortunate that only one firefighter, a town fireman whom Brown declined to identify, suffered a minor injury, smoke inhalation, Brown said.

“Industrial fires are always the worst,” Brown said Wednesday. “You have trenches in the mill, pieces of equipment in the mill, and a lot of electrical things in the mill, and most of the firefighters don’t work there anymore, so they don’t know their way around.”

The battle did not begin well for firefighters, Brown said. When they were called to the fire, at about 11:45 a.m., the flames were already out of control. The warehouse was so smoky that firefighters had to open the warehouse’s large bay doors, set up fans and wait about 45 minutes for the air to clear, he said.

The mill no longer has a fire brigade, so firefighters lacked guidance, Brown said.

“We could not let any firefighters in there because any of those tons of paper could fall over and kill a firefighter instantly,” Brown said. “The fans that they have did what they are supposed to do, but they are not big enough to do the job. They are not built for that [fire ventilation].”

With temperatures peaking Wednesday at only 11 degrees Fahrenheit, the open doors and firefighters’ water created ice and steam pretty quickly, Brown said.

“Between the steam and smoke, the visibility was zero inside the building,” Brown said.

Firefighters wearing air tanks had to use two front loaders to haul burning paper out of the building. All firefighters had to rotate through fighting the fire to get their tanks refilled.

Then, about two hours into the fire, the warehouse’s sprinkler system came on, not stopping the fire but adding considerably to the steam, Brown said.

“By the time we left, there was 6 inches of water on the floor,” Brown said.

Millworkers will assess the damage done by the fire in the next few days. The mill’s operations were not curtailed, said Rick Grunthaler, the mill’s human resources manager. Managed by Fraser Papers and owned by parent company Brookfield Asset Management of Toronto, the Main Street mill employs as many as 491 hourly workers making directory-grade papers and newsprint.

Brown was pleased and impressed with firefighters’ efforts. East Millinocket, Lincoln, Medway and Millinocket firefighters fought the blaze, Brown said. The last crews left the fire at about 6:45 p.m., town firefighters said.

“Everybody had to work their butts off,” he said.

nsambides@bangordailynews.net

794-8215

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Comments
16 comments on this item
On 12/17/09 at 4:55 AM, poormainiac wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

I'm glad no one was seriously injured. Can't imagine what it's like to fight fires in this weather. Bad time of year for a fire. Thank God for volunteers and thank a volunteer when you see one.

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On 12/17/09 at 4:59 AM, poormainiac wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Nick ' your headline reads 5 towns but I believe you only mention 4 ?

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On 12/17/09 at 9:45 AM, ElectraGlide wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

One of the Finest in America

The Volunteer Firefighters

Great Job!!!!!!!!!!!!

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On 12/17/09 at 11:38 AM, Smithpuddle wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Thank you to the firefighters. No lives lost, fire contained and put out with minimal damage.

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On 12/17/09 at 12:03 PM, Hong_Kong_Phooey wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Lets see if a couple of the local ladies come on here blaming this on an arsonist?

I am sure they already have this solved, and how to stop it.

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On 12/17/09 at 4:00 PM, southtexaskate wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

did you know they arent heating the mill yet? not fair working condtions.

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On 12/17/09 at 8:27 PM, townfolk wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Lets give credit to where credit is due, East Millinocket, Medway, and Lincoln, I didn't see any Millinocket Fire trucks there at all.

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On 12/17/09 at 8:30 PM, townfolk wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Maybe if they were there, there may have been no injuries, Special thanks to the firefighters that were there.

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On 12/17/09 at 11:01 PM, anotherneighbor wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Townfolk my scanner agrees with your eyes. If there was one it must have been a Mill employee already there!

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On 12/18/09 at 12:25 PM, wrkinpoor wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

southtexaskate,they didnt heat it until the fire lines almost froze last year.There is exposed Asbestos in the Woodroom,at least,and the dust and grease build up from no cleaning crews are accidents waiting to happen.They want you to clean on the fly during your break.Nobody thinks about the half full metal barrels of chemicals buried in the original #1 dump at Dolby landfill that should be a Superfund site.Not fair or healthy working conditions that are reported and fall on deaf ears.Whistleblowers are afraid the Company will close the mill and sell power.This is what happens when Unions agree to whatever the Company wants so they can keep certain jobs,(none of which affected Union officials ;) ).I and others lost grievances where people with 6 years less senority stayed working while we were laid off because even though it was in direct conflict with the current Contract,(Last in,first out),the Union agreed to "expedite" the starting of the mill so that Fraser could bail their own butt out of the bankruptcy that happened anyway due to their inept handling of business affairs.You cant fight the Company when the Union is in bed with them.There is no reason that I can see why the Millinocket mill couldnt be run whereas they made great paper and had great customers when it was shut down due to Oil prices,even though those same Oil prices dropped dramatically a short time later.The boiler needed could have been already reworked to running shape by now but making power is cheaper than making paper and much less risky to stockholders.Brookfield who not only owns Katahdin paper also owns Fraser and is responsible for putting the wind power lines up through this area and probably own the turbines in Lincoln to boot.Brookfield,Bangor Hydro,Irving Oil and many loggers are just a few from Canada.No wonder senator Otten is running on a "get jobs" platform.The big boys have the long range plan studied by the Govenors Coalition of New England that arranges the money power plays for the big Corps.,for a price of course.Dont worry,they will all still be able to afford their second home in the Bahamas on the backs of the working stiffs who just want a job to get by.The rich get richer and the poor are forgotten and are expected to be tended by their neighbors and friends who are fast becoming unable to help.Its still the greatest country in the world,so far.

Great job Firefighters! Must be nice to have a job you can be proud of and are appreciated for!

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On 12/18/09 at 3:15 PM, profireot wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Whats going on with East Mill and Millinocket FD's? Not playing well in the sandbox?

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On 12/19/09 at 1:35 AM, anotherneighbor wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Seems that way profireot. Scanner's don't lie and well their transcripts are obtainable. Mr Brown was probably soooooooo busy fighting the fire. That he remembers asking for Millinocket's help and probably just presumed they came. And included them in his conversation with Nick S. Sitting in the ER that day I could have sworn the man re-living the entire fire scene said he was a millworker not a fireman. So who knows?

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On 12/20/09 at 7:01 AM, poormainiac wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Thanks , Nick.

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On 12/20/09 at 7:07 AM, poormainiac wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

There has always beem a tiff between Millinocket and East Millinocket folks , petty jealousy I guess. One day they will die off and the next generation may be able to live together. Until then we will have to longer endure the sad , sad comments we so often hear from endereducated little children.

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On 12/20/09 at 9:51 AM, Superglide1975 wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

I'm from Millinocket and work in the east mill because of Millinocket's mill shutting down.I helped with one of three loaders to push the burning and smoking bails out into a pile and put snow on any still burning. One of the other loader operator's was also from Millinocket. Neither loader had any heat. I was glad to help and maybe save down time and jobs. You people that have nothing better to do then fan the flames between the two millinocket's should burn your computers and get a life. PS. Well said poormainiac. Also I've lived in Millinocket for 58 yrs. and have never had any hard feeling for east mill or medway people. Half of my relatives are from Medway and many more live in east mill. So what direction do you suppose the anamosity is coming from? Have you ever heard the expertion, "we are all in the same boat". Ask any of the works in the mill if they fell comfy with the east mill staying running and you's get no more times then not so hang onto your socks because it's coming to your town.

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On 12/24/09 at 9:44 PM, polarize wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

lots of fires up there. u need a biger F-D. to many hot heads up there.lol

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