Elbru Distributors Recovering After Fire at Facility

A suspected combustible dust explosion and fire at Elbru Distributors-Hardwood Flooring’s woodworking facility in Woolwich, Ont., sent a 16-year-old employee to hospital and caused an estimated $300,000 in damage, according to local emergency officials.

On May 13, emergency crews responded to the business after employees reported hearing a loud explosion inside a machine at the facility.

“Early indications state that this was a dust explosion that started within the woodworking facility of the industrial occupancy here,” Woolwich Fire Department deputy chief Jeff Lipskie told CTV News Kitchener.

The youth employee suffered minor injuries and was later released from hospital. The Office of the Fire Marshal and Ontario’s Ministry of Labour attended the site as part of the ongoing investigation. Police said the cause of the incident remains under review.

Combustible dust is a known hazard in secondary wood manufacturing operations, where fine wood particles generated during sanding, cutting and processing can ignite under certain conditions if not properly controlled through dust collection and housekeeping systems.

The latest incident marks the second major fire event tied to Elbru Distributors in more than a decade.
In July 2012, a fire destroyed part of the company’s hardwood manufacturing operation north of Elmira, Ont., causing approximately $1.25 million in damage. Firefighters from four Woolwich stations battled the blaze for hours in rotating shifts as the facility burned. According to reporting by the Woolwich Observer, investigators later determined the fire was accidental and caused when cleaning fumes were ignited by electrical equipment.