PORT ANGELES — Production at the Peninsula Plywood mill could be disrupted for a week or more after a fire Saturday morning destroyed the control room for the plant’s boilers.
Without the control room, the two boilers, which are needed to produce plywood, cannot operate.
PenPly President Josh Renshaw estimated 60 to 70 employees out of the work force of about 135 at the mill on Marine Drive in Port Angeles will have reduced work or no work at all until the temporary boiler is running.
“There’s going to be some lost work, no doubt about it,” he said.
“It’s going to affect an awful lot of the plant.”
The damage, which could cost as much as $500,000, will be covered by insurance, he said.
Lost production and missed orders, on the other hand, could cost the mill up to $200,000, Renshaw said.
Renshaw was working Saturday to get a transportable boiler, which sits on a large trailer, installed by the end of the week.
The mill’s managers were trying to sort out Saturday what work can be done in the meantime.
If the temporary boiler is in place by week’s end, Renshaw said the mill would run shifts through the weekend to make up for lost time.
Replacing the control room could take three to seven weeks, he said.
Sprinklers controlled the blaze mostly to the control room, although there was some damage to equipment nearby. The boilers themselves were not damaged, Renshaw said.
A PenPly employee reported the fire at about 5:30 a.m. as he was coming in to do maintenance.
Black smoke could be seen billowing from the boiler room.
Twenty-five fire fighters from the Port Angeles Fire Department and Clallam County Fire District No. 2 had the blaze under control within 30 minutes.
Port Angeles police blocked Marine Drive near the mill.
Fire officials were investigating the cause of the fire on Saturday.
Renshaw said it was unclear what started the blaze since the mill wasn’t running at the time.
“Actually, we are very confused by it,” he said.
The fire could have been started by electrical equipment, Renshaw said, although he couldn’t attribute it to any particular device.
Two other fires
The mill has had two other fires since it restarted under new ownership March 1 after being idled for over two years.
Both were small, and neither disrupted production.
Renshaw said he wasn’t too concerned.
“It’s a mill that was shut down for two years,” he said.
“You just know you are going to have problems.”
Renshaw said mill workers perform regular cleaning and “house keeping work” to avoid fires.
He said he and other mill managers will review what can procedures can be improved.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.