Investigators are still determining the cause of an early morning Jan. 22 fire at Houston鈥檚 Canfor sawmill which severely damaged an interior control room.

The blaze has further set back a full re-opening of the mill which has been closed for five weeks.

For now, the mill鈥檚 planer operation resumed as scheduled on Jan. 23 to handle the rough lumber inventory stockpiled at the site.

鈥淲e are undertaking an investigation to determine what happened. We are also assessing the impacts of the damage and determining the availability of the necessary replacement equipment,鈥� said Michelle Ward who speaks for Canfor.

At this point it is too early to know when we鈥檒l be able to resume operations at the sawmill.鈥�

鈥淲e are very grateful there were no injuries from the fire in the sawmill and we want to thank the Houston Volunteer Fire Department for their work on site to extinguish the fire.鈥�

Houston Volunteer Fire Department chief Jim Daigneault said firefighters were called out just before 1 a.m. and that three engines responded with 17 department members.

鈥淲e were on scene for five hours. It was a challenge to make sure it was totally out,鈥� he said of the fire in and around the computer equipment in the trimmer room.

鈥淭he fire had gotten into a couple of walls and the electrical room floor had been compromised by the fire,鈥� Daigneault added.

Given the location of the fire, the breathing apparatus worn by firefighters became even more important as so many chemicals are released when something is burning, he said.

Also at the scene was B.C. Ambulance to check on the well-being of firefighters, something that is standard practice now.

The mill, as with Canfor鈥檚 other sawmills in B.C., was closed for three weeks in December with the company citing weak markets and high log costs as reasons.

It was to open after New Year鈥檚 only to have two weeks added to the closure.