CARLSBORG – A sawdust explosion and subsequent fire drew a crowd to Mervin Manufacturing’s snowboard factory Tuesday morning.
No one was injured in the blaze, said Clallam County Fire District No. 3 chief Roger Moeder.
Firefighters at the nearby Carlsborg Road county station received a call from a Mervin employee at about 10 a.m., Moeder said.
Engines also came from R Corner and from the Fifth Avenue station in Sequim.
“There were huge flames,” said Mervin finishing technician Luke Buchser, who was among the clusters of onlookers watching crews drench the fire.
The blaze was confined to its source, the factory’s dust collector.
“What it looks like is that the electrical motor malfunctioned and created a spark,” which led to an explosion, Moeder said.
The collector, a cylindrical tank about 25 feet high, spewed ashes into the air for hours.
It was still smoldering Tuesday afternoon while crews mopped up, Moeder said.
Mervin’s main building has a sprinkler system, but the dust collector didn’t.
The plant at 155 Business Park Loop just north of U.S. Highway 101 has operated in Carlsborg for 11 years.
Its 65 employees make snowboards, skateboards and snowboard bindings.
Mervin’s dust collector is connected to the shop where wooden cores are constructed, and technician Briten Doran figured operations there would shut down for a day or two – but production director Jeff Kempf said the rest of his factory will forge ahead.
Making cores is the first link in the production chain, he said, adding that other departments have a backup supply of cores to work on while an alternative dust collection system is installed.
“We’re hoping to have uninterrupted production,” Kempf said.
He arrived after crews had extinguished the flames.
“I missed the fireworks show,” he said.
Now “we’re going to proceed.”
