Inside
u Mental Health P. 6 u Housing P. 9
u Editorial P. 4 u Voices Visible P. 4
Publications Mail Contract #: 40007759
PHONE: 996-8482 www.caledoniacourier.com
WEDNESDAY, October 15, 2014
VOL. 37 NO. 33 $1.30 inc. GST
NEWS BRIEFS
RCMP Report Fort St. James Jesse Cole Caledonia Courier
Fort St. James RCMP Officers reported that on Oct. 3 at around 10 p.m. Officers initiated a traffic stop of a vehicle that was driving without their headlights turned on. The vehicle was stopped in the area of the Stuart Drive strip mall. Upon investigation RCMP Officer’s detected an odour of alcohol on the driver of the vehicle and subsequently initiated a impaired driving test. The driver of the vehicle blew under the legal limit but was in possession of a license category that prohibited the consumption of any alcohol at all. The driver was issued a 12 hour driving prohibition as a result of the investigation.
A small explosion and fire occured at pinnacle pellets on the morning of Oct. 9 in Burns Lake, B.C. Photo courtesy of Burns Lake Lakes District News
Burns Lake sawmill ignites
*** On Oct. 5 at around midnight RCMP Officers responded to a report of an intoxicated male in downtown Fort St. James yelling and causing a ruckus. Upon responding to the complaint RCMP Officers located the intoxicated male and found that the suspect was bound by a probation order. The suspect was subsequently arrested for violating his probation requirements. The man was detained at the Fort St. James RCMP detachment until he was sober upon which we was subsequently released with a court date.
Sawmill dust ignites fire in Burns Lake’s Pinnacle Pellets, three injured in fire Staff Writer Burns Lake Lakes District News
At approximately 8 a.m. on the morning of Oct. 9, a fire related incident occurred at the Pinnacle Pellet plant in the Burns Lake facility resulting in minor injuries to two employees and more serious, but not critical injuries to a third employee. WorkSafeBC was notified and the affected area of the plant was secured to allow for a full investigation. At the time of the incident, the plant was in a maintenance shutdown. The fire was quickly contained and there are no reports of equipment damage. Scott McCloy from WorksafeBC said, “WorkSafeBC Prevention officers arrived on scene at about noon. They will be working to determine what happened and why it happened. WorkSafeBC officers are coordinating with the RCMP and other regulatory bodies, including the BC Safety Authority,
in this regard. At this point, it is difficult to determine how long it will take to determine the cause, but our hope is to determine the cause quickly. It is my understanding that the three workers were in the dryer area at the time of the incident. We have not at this point determined whether there was an explosion or a fire.” WorkSafeBC last inspected this mill on June 17, 2014. At the time of that inspection it was determined that combustible dust issues were being managed. The mill has not been inspected since that time. However, WorkSafeBC launched another combustible dust effort related to the pellet industry on October 1 and the Burns Lake facility is on the schedule to be inspected. Three workers were transported to Lakes District Hospital and Health Centre. Two patients with minor injuries are being transferred to the University Hospital of Northern B.C. in Prince George and one patient is being transferred to Vancouver.