ASHLAND ME. PELLET MILL BURNS TO THE GROUND

KINGOFTHENORTH said:

He'res the link to the newscast if anybodys interested(is the top story) . http://www.wagmtv.com/newssource8/Newscast.aspx

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Thats a shame......but its good he has plans to rebuild....

So what mill was it?

Not like everyone can get broadband to be able to watch a video.

Just talked to my "pellet guy" and he was not happy about the news. He had not heard about it yet. He was going to order 2 truckloads today as the owner of the mill made him an excellent offer on them.

The mill keeps it inventory of pellets outside so hopefully they will be able to supply pellets for a while still.

I noticed on TV this morning they had a large pile of saw dust in stock.

Here is a print story for those of you that don't have broadband.
http://www.wabi.tv/news/5358/pellet-mill-burns-down

is this a trend, last year the mill in jaffrey, NH had a fire, now ashland, ME, (mabey more) is this due to the process, or the wood, OR is this a plot by OPEC? JK!

All the pellet mill fires probably have to do with the sawdust. I've heard of a few fires and explosions at grain elevators because of the dust.

Damp sawdust when left in a pile will start "cooking" fairly quickly and if left for too long it will catch fire. Also Pellet mills have rotating equipment and a little bit of dust in the wrong place will start smoldering if it gets hot. Mix in the fact that they have heated driers to dry the sawdust, plus the presses generate heat and its not a surprise that more dont burn.

rowerwet said:

is this a trend, last year the mill in jaffrey, NH had a fire, now ashland, ME, (mabey more) is this due to the process, or the wood, OR is this a plot by OPEC? JK!

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I will deny reporting this but I was told me there were numerous camel tracks in the vacinity and a towel was found on the side of the road about 1.2 miles away.

On a serious note, that was the best Maine based pellets manufacturer.

Didn't Corinth or some other Maine mill burn last year? Used to do inspections for insurance companies--these types of operations in rural areas are notorious for inadequate fire protection. probably no sprinklers. Bizarre that fire protection is more expensive than insurance!?

I believe the Corinth plant had a fire in the fall.

Yes....corinth had a fire last year. But I believe it was the sprinklers that "saved" corinth from burning much worse.

Hamer had a fire in the Elkins plant Jan 2009.

A small write is all I could find about it.

https://www.statejournal.com/story.cfm?func=viewstory&storyid=50290&printview=1

Seems the mills have fire issues. Bet there insurance is going up. That will also drive the price of pellets up too!

just my 2
jay

From today's local newspaper.

http://www.bangordailynews.com/detail/102913.html

They should treat the sawdust with a fire retardant.

What a great idea, then we would know why are pellets aren't burning LOL.