Firefighters were sent to the Buchanan Lumber Co. plant in Aliceville, AL on March 5 after an explosion occurred in a dust collector that was under maintenance following a blaze earlier this year.
Aliceville Volunteer Fire Department said in a Facebook post that a crew was repairing a baghouse dust collector between two silos when the incident happened.
“The equipment was down for maintenance repairs since the previous fire on Dec. 14, 2021,” the fire department wrote. “Crews finished up repairing the equipment and were cleaning up tools when they turned on the equipment for a test run when it exploded.”
Fire personnel were called to lumber and flooring plant around 4 p.m. and found the dust collector fully involved in flames upon arrival. Aliceville Fire said one person was injured during the blast. Their condition was unknown.
Buchanan Lumber’s 100,000-sq-ft plant in Aliceville supplies 14 million ft/yr of hardwood flooring and lumber products, according to information on its website.
