BEAUFORT – In Carteret County, dozens of people at a wood manufacturing plant could not come to work on Monday.
Production at Atlantic Veneer Corporation in Beaufort is partially on hold, following an explosion at a wood chip silo on Sunday.
This is not the first time emergency crews have responded to the plant. Over the years, a number of fires have broken out at Atlantic Veneer.
Most recently, on Sunday morning, an explosion at a wood silo chip destroyed the roof and sent debris flying through the air.
When crews got to the scene, they found two silos and a conveyor belt system on fire. They also found several small fires in neighboring buildings, and on the ground.
Paramedics treated a firefighter on scene for minor burns.
Now the State Bureau of Investigations, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and others are investigating.
“The main part is just what caused it, and how to prevent it for next time,” said Asst. Chief Richard Lovick of the Beaufort Fire Dept.
Lovick says this is the second explosion at AV in recent memory.
In 2005, an explosion sent four firefighters to the Jaycee Burn Center in Chapel Hill. Some of them had burns on 30 percent of their body. A fifth firefighter was treated at Carteret General Hospital.
Back in 1992, a fire broke out at a wood silo, sending five employees to the hospital with burns.
“It’s an industry. Everything in there will burn. Anytime you get wood, dust, very flammable. I mean, all it takes is a little spark, and it’ll go like wildfire,” said Lovick.
Records from the U.S. Department of Labor show there have been at least 10 safety violations against Atlantic Veneer from 2003 to 2008.
In February of 2008, a 46-year-old employee lost part of his leg after it got caught in a conveyor belt for more than an hour and a half. The labor department cited the company and assessed a penalty of more than a thousand dollars.
Both wood chip silos at AV are closed while law enforcement investigates what happened, said Atlantic Veneer spokesperson Michael Kraszeski of Mohring Group.
He says the company asked 50 people not to come to work while silos are closed.
Atlantic Veneer was once one of the largest employers in Carteret County. The company purchases and slices logs into veneers, which become components of plywood and other panel products, said Kraszeski