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Mill near Lumby likely a write-off following blaze

Click to play video: 'Lumby area plant shutdown by fire'
Lumby area plant shutdown by fire
Watch Above: Many employees of a north Okanagan plant producing value added wood products had no job to go to on Wednesday. The facility was heavily damaged by fire on Tuesday. However, as Megan Turcato reports, the company is making plans to get staff back to work. – Oct 4, 2017

Editor’s Note: The fire was at the Valley Wood location on Dure Meadow Rd. not at the location on Jeffers Dr. as was previously reported.

A fire has forced the closure of a mill near Lumby.

Flames broke out in a compressor room at Valley Wood Remanufacturing on Dure Meadow Rd. at 3:25 p.m. Tuesday.

Lumby fire chief Tony Clayton said the building was fully engulfed when they arrived.

“There’s a lot of internal damage and the structure itself will have to have an engineer look at it because of the heat damage,” Clayton said.

The mill employed about 20 people and will not be re-opening any time soon due to the extensive damage.

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“It was cedar, a lot of cedar inside which burns quick,” the fire chief said.

Crews were called in from fire halls in Lavington, Coldstream, BX Swan Lake and Armstrong.

The fire department had to shut the power down to the plant, which shut off the electric pumps that drive the fire hydrants, complicating the fire fight.

Clayton said water was trucked in from Lumby to fight the blaze.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

Valley Wood Remanufacturing created garden products like trellises, arbours and backyard furniture.

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