Lakeland Mills is in the process of getting a fire safety plan approved by Prince George Fire Rescue, a coroner's inquest into the fatal explosion that rocked the operation's sawmill nearly three years ago heard Tuesday.
Although a plan has been submitted to PGFR, it has been rejected, Steve Feeney, a fire prevention officer testified, because it had not been formatted correctly.
Feeney said Canfor's P.G. Sawmill has also submitted a plan but it has been sent back for similar reasons.
"Lots of them have documents that could be included in a fire safety plan, like emergency response plans, they just haven't put it together in a package that satisfies what a fire safety plan actually is," Feeney said.
Feeney made his comments while being pressed by coroner's counsel John Orr over the time it's taken for Lakeland and other sawmills and pulp mills to submit plans. The issue was first brought up with Lakeland three years ago, Orr noted.
Since the explosion at Lakeland and the Jan. 20, 2012 explosion at Babine Forest Products in Burns Lake, Feeney said an emphasis has been put on getting operations to carry out the task. He said none of the pulp mills he inspects have yet submitted a plan but that will be a subject as he continues to carry out inspections.
