Two Injured in Silo Explosion, Fire at Mill in Oregon

A mill worker and a firefighter received minor injuries after a fire and explosion at a mill’s lumber yard in Oregon early Wednesday morning, the Roseberg News-Review and local NBC Television News affiliate KPIC reported.

Fire personnel received several reports of an explosion near the Douglas County Forest Products mill in Roseberg, OR at about 3 a.m., the News-Review said.

Crews arrived to find the 80 ft silo and three bins containing wood shavings on fire in the facility’s lumber yard, Fire Marshal Ray Shoufler told the newspaper, adding that wood dust may have played a role in causing the combustion.

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“The mechanism of these explosions are a backdraft like phenomenon, which is the result of oxygen being introduced into areas built-up of heat and gases from incomplete combustion needing only a source of oxygen for a combustion explosion," Shoufler saud in a statement published by KPIC. "The explosion was possible by the presence of wood dust, which may have added to the fuel load in the form of finely dispersed combustible particles."

The silo at the Douglas County Forest Products facility was heavily damaged, officials noted.

“I’m no welder, but it’s not operational,” said Shoufler in the News-Review.

The cause of the fire is unknown and remains under investigation, the reports said.