Canfor woodchip fire causing worse than usual ‘smell of money’ in Prince George

“Naturally occurring organic breakdown led the fibre at the base of the pile to generate heat, resulting in smouldering at its base,” said Michelle Ward, Senior Director of Communications. “At times, this has resulted in odours but the crew is working to minimize the impact on the community.”

Canfor say they expect the work to continue for a couple more weeks as crews continue their work to put out hot spots and spread the affected wood chips to allow them to cool down.

There is no word as of yet on the financial impacts of the slow-burning blaze, although several industry members believe it is in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

As for why the smell was so bad, Environment and Climate Change Canada say the weather pattern has played a large part.

“We have to look back at the weather pattern, as of Friday last week we had a strong ridge of high pressure that built into the province and parked itself over BC,” said Lisa Erven, Meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada. “When that happens especially during these fall months the ridge of high pressure ends up acting like a lid trapping pollutants.”

Good news for the next little while as the weather system is expected to remain active and should prevent any smoke from settling down onto the city according to Evers.

by Caden Fanshaw

Canfor woodchip fire causing worse than usual ‘smell of money’ in Prince George

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