Flames shoot 100 feet into the air and 300 workers are evacuated.
By Terry Karkos
Staff Writer

RUMFORD – Fire broke out early Tuesday morning at the MeadWestvaco paper mill complex after a 100-year-old maintenance office building collapsed.

People living in the area said they heard an explosion about 4:30 a.m. that shook houses in Rumford and Mexico. Smaller explosions heard and felt by witnesses were attributed afterward to acetylene and oxygen tanks stored in the building, said fire Chief John Woulfe.

The explosions were followed by flames that leaped up to 100 feet above the two-story building.

About 100 firefighters from eight area towns responded to Rumford’s call for mutual aid assistance at the four-alarm inferno. Med-Care Ambulance also responded.

Two MeadWestvaco employees were admitted to Rumford Hospital for smoke inhalation. They were treated and released, said mill spokesman Steve Hudson.

“While we are concerned for our two employees who went to the hospital, we are relieved that their injuries appear to be minor at this time,” said Gary Curtis, vice president and mill manager.

More than 300 employees were evacuated due to concerns about smoke exposure.

As part of the evacuation, the mill’s three operating paper machines, a pulp dryer and finishing machines were shut down. Workers kept the pulp mill and utilities running; they were not threatened by the fire, Hudson said.

“As smoke from the fire spread to other areas of the mill, employees were evacuated as a precaution,” Hudson said.

Mill maintenance workers reported for duty each day to an office in the 100-by-100-foot building that collapsed and burned, but no one was believed to be inside when the roof caved in at 4:30, Hudson said.

If it had happened at 8 a.m., “This could have been a very tough thing for us,” he said.

Initially, Hudson said, a mill-wide alarm was sounded. It was shut off once officials realized that the evacuation process was under way and building sweeps were completed.

“When the alarm came in, people in the areas were already assembling,” he said.

Firefighters had the blaze under control by 8:30 a.m., but, 30 minutes later, flames were still visible when they weren’t obscured by heavy, roiling gray smoke.

A cherry-picker truck from Roxbury was brought in to move debris and bring down walls to enable firefighters better access to still-burning sections.

Hudson said the mill started its recovery efforts by 8 a.m., allowing a small assessment team to enter the area.

The team is expected to “determine the extent of the damage, determine if the area is safe for recovery crews to enter, and assess our needs,” he explained.

Woulfe said that a state Fire Marshal’s Office representative and Rumford fire investigators determined that “some type of buildup of ice” caused the building to collapse.

Part of the roof slid off to the side, and walls collapsed into an alley, Woulfe said. Another section of the wooden structure fell downward.

Investigators are not sure what caused the fire or where it originated, but Woulfe said when he arrived, flames were shooting more than two stories high due to the amount of material burning in the building.

Crews for the largest paper machine complex were allowed to re-enter their operating area about noon after it had been determined to be safe, Hudson said. The mill was expected to reach full production later Tuesday.

By 3:30 p.m., mill crews had restarted the paper machines and a pulp dryer, Hudson said.

Curtis credited “the prompt and professional response” by the plant’s emergency response team and local fire departments. “This incident will have no long-term impact on the Rumford mill,” he said.

Hudson said the cost of cleanup and repairs hadn’t been determined.

tkarkos@sunjournal.com

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