Injured L-P workers improving, cause of explosion undetermined
By Arthur McLean Editor

PHOTO BY ARTHUR MCLEAN The thermal oil room at the Louisiana-Pacific OSB mill, where the fire started is shown before the explosion in this file photo.

The cause of last week's explosion at the Louisiana- Pacific oriented strand board mill is still under investigation, said state and company officials.

Three of the four employees injured in the accident are still in the hospital, but are recovering well, said plant manager Steve Doffitt. One of the men has already been released from the hospital, while another remains in intensive care. The company has declined to release the names of those injured.

Doffitt said he has visited with each of the employees and is pleased with their progress. "We just hate that something like this happened to injure them," Doffitt said.

The cause of the explosion is still under investigation by the company and the state fire marshal's office. Ed Paulk, a spokesman for the Alabama Department of Insurance said the state fire marshal's office had two investigators at the scene as late as Tuesday. No foul play is suspected, he said.

Doffitt maintained that the company wants to make sure it gets to the cause of the fire which started in the thermal oil room, attached to the main warehouse area and used in the massive press used to form the oriented strand board.

"Our priorities are to get a good investigation to get to the root cause of this," he said.

Doffitt also said the company is keeping the workforce at the mill busy with work finishing final items in the plant's construction, and that no layoffs were planned.

To date, the company has not completed an assessment of how much repairs will cost to get the plant back in operation. But "the size of the damage compared to the size of the mill is very small," Doffitt said.

Doffitt said the company has also been working with employees to provide any help they may need in coping with the accident. "When something like this happens, emotions are affected, and we're working with our folks on that."

He praised the response of local emergency organizations to the explosion that happened early Wednesday morning on May 7. "We thank the community for its support and prayers during this time."

The fire caused response from three fire departments, the Thomasville Police, Clarke County Sheriff's Office, Clarke EMA and three helicopters.

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