COLDSTREAM – A North Okanagan Mill is back up and running after a damaging fire hampered operations for more than a week.
Coldstream Lumber is now fully operational after a fire last Tuesday destroyed part of the re-manufacturing mill.
BC Hydro replaced a broken transformer at around ten last night and the plant was fully operational by midnight.
The damaged electrical transformers needed at Coldstream Lumber are an older model, and BC Hydro says it took some time to search the province in order to find replacements.
Yesterday mill owner Andy Andersen expressed frustration because it was taking so long to get power back up and running leaving workers in limbo.
Today he thanked the utility for taking action.
“I want to say thanks to Hydro. It’s good to be running again, it could have been a lot worse. I’m just so pleased that we are running and its production as usual,” he says.
Workers were sent home early yesterday, as a lack of power left staff unable to operate three of the plant’s large saws.
As of this morning, Andersen says that all staff members were called back into work.
“They’re very happy to be back. There’s nothing worse than waiting for the unknown. So this is good for them,” says Andersen.
Investigators believe that last Tuesday’s blaze was caused by a failure in the mill’s fuse box.
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