Wood company says one of its machines may have started deadly California wildfire

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The remains of multiple burned homes are seen in Weed, Calif., last Saturday, where the Mill Fire has burned about 4,000 acres and killed at least two people. Photo by Peter DaSilva/UPI | License Photo

Sept. 8 (UPI) -- A wood products company said that it's investigating the possibility that one of its machines sparked a deadly wildfire in Northern California that's charred 4,000 acres and killed at least two people.

The company, Roseburg Forest Products, said that its co-generation plant may have ignited the Mill Fire in the far northern part of the state last Friday. The blaze has destroyed more than 100 structures and killed two women.

Roseburg said the investigation centers on a machine at its Weed, Calif., plant that was used to cool ashes ejected from the co-generating electrical plant.

The plant produces its own electricity in a facility that's fueled by wood remnants, and a generator ejects ash after consuming the wood.

"That particular machine is perhaps the most likely candidate for what propelled or started the fire," company spokesman Pete Hillan said according to the Redding Record Searchlight.

"We're still investigating. We don't know that yet. But of all the things that were near where the fire appears to have started, that seems to be the most risky item."

Authorities said the Mill Fire in Siskiyou County, near the California-Oregon border, was about 75% contained by Thursday.


On Monday, the Siskiyou County Sheriff's Office said the two women, aged 66 and 73, died in Weed.

The Roseburg plant employs about 140 people. The Mill Fire destroyed two buildings in the back of its property, but most of the plant was not damaged and continues to be operational.