Two large explosions destroyed a sawmill in the Southeast community of Hoonah early Thursday morning. The mill was unoccupied at the time and no one was hurt.
Joan Howell, lead dispatcher for the police department in the town of 800, said she was on the back deck at the station when she heard the first explosion at Icy Straits Lumber just before 6 a.m. The deck looks out over the harbor, toward the site of the mill on nearby Long Island.
She said she could feel heat on her face.
"It was extremely loud," she said. "It just startled the heck out of ya 'cause it's so quiet out here."
Moments later, a huge cloud of black smoke billowed out from the mill. It must have been 10 stories tall, Howell said. Seconds passed and then there was another explosion.
Howell said she heard a series of smaller popping noises. She guessed they were exploding chemicals in the building.
Sue Tyler, who owns the mill with her husband Wes, said investigators from the police department have not determined the cause of the explosions. She said she suspected a small fire started somewhere and hit a fuel source.
Nothing in the building could have exploded on its own, she said.
Fred Morrison, the maintenance supervisor at Icy Straits Lumber, said the explosion may have been caused by four tanks filled with hydraulic fluid. But he said he had no idea how they may have ignited.
Morrison was working at the lumber company in a building near the mill Wednesday, along with five other employees. The part of the mill that was destroyed had been closed down for two days before it burned. The power was off and generators weren't working. Other buildings, including dry storage and a building housing a kiln, didn't burn.
Tyler said their mill was medium-sized and focused on specialty custom projects. It used to employ 25 people but has downsized recently because of the recession, and currently employs 12.
They had a small fire insurance policy but Tyler said she doesn't think any of the equipment destroyed in the explosion will be covered. They still have equipment to treat and process wood, and plan to stay in business.
"We hope to do something to rebound," she said. "We would like to try to keep an operation going if at all possible."
Find Kaylin Bettinger online at adn.com/contact/kbettinger or call her at 257-4349.
By KAYLIN BETTINGER
kbettinger@adn.com