Large Fire Damages Georgia-Pacific Particle Board Plant

A raw material storage building at the Georgia-Pacific particle board plant in Thomson, GA was declared a total loss after a massive fire Wednesday afternoon, several local news organizations reported. Over 12 area emergency response agencies responded to the incident. 

The blaze ignited in the storage structure at the Harrison Road facility at about 1:30 p.m. or 2 p.m. and spread quickly in the plant, Georgia-Pacific spokesperson Rick Kimble told the Augusta Chronicle.  A fire suppression system in the facility was unable to douse the flames because the fire moved so quickly, Kimble said in the newspaper’s coverage.

Firefighters struggled to bring the fire under control during the response due to a lack of water, so fire officials decided to let the fire burn itself out, officials said in an account by television news station WRDW.

The facility sustained damages during the fire. A WRDW reporter posted on Facebook that the entire plant was declared a total loss. Kimble told a journalist from The Jefferson Reporter that the facility is “pretty much gone.” Fox News affiliate WFXG said only the raw material storage building was destroyed. 

Georgia-Pacific said that no injuries occurred during the fire. The cause of the blaze is unknown. 

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