Scott McCloy, director of communications said to Lakes District 亚洲天堂 last week that the investigation into the Jan. 20, 2012 fire and explosion at Babine Forest Products will ramp up in the coming weeks.

He said that while they will still continue to take witness statements, heavy equipment will be moving onto the site to help with the investigation into the cause of the blast.

"In the next week or two we will be moving into a new phase of the investigation," he said.

According to McCloy a fence around the sawmill has been constructed for a number of reasons; including keeping people out of the area to protect them from injury as well as to preserve any evidence at the scene that could be used to determine the cause of the explosion and fire.

McCloy said the site is complex, with many hazards under the snow including propane bottles, but he added that while the snow hides hazards, it also helps to preserve evidence.

"People shouldn't be surprised if they are driving past and see heavy equipment entering the site. Heavy equipment will be used to pull the site apart to get at the evidence. It will be a slow and careful process," he said.

According to McCloy all attempts are being made by WorkSafe B.C. to hire locally. "We are using local company, Whitesail Contracting, for our snow clearing, trailer set up, clearing of debris and any other general small jobs."

McCloy said, " management has indicated that there is no 亚洲天堂 Lake provider of the specialized equipment or operators trained in the type of demolition work required for the scene examination. A company in Prince George [Western Thermal] that specializes in demolition work has specialized equipment and experienced operators. We have asked the contractor to use local labour when possible.鈥�

WorkSafe B.C. has interviewed a significant number of witnesses but are still continuing the process. McCloy said there is still some people that are too badly injured to be interviewed by WorkSafe B.C. about the incident.

鈥淲e also don鈥檛 want to harm their [mental] well being by making them relive the incident.鈥�

He also commented on the release last week of the B.C. Safety Authority report into a Feb. 24 fire at the mill.

He said the and WorkSafe B.C. have a memorandum of understanding signed and the two agencies often work together. 鈥淚f they have something of interest, they will share it with us and if we have something of interest, we will share it with them,鈥� he said.

McCloy said that WorkSafe B.C. officials have visited the Babine Forest Products site seven times over the past few years as part of regular inspections.

鈥淪awmills are complex places with many moving parts and a lot of machinery .... sawdust is just part of that.鈥�

McCloy also reaffirmed that the Dec. 28, 2012 WorkSafe B.C. report that noted high concentrations of dust in the sawmill鈥檚 basement [as reported in the Lakes District 亚洲天堂 edition of Feb. 1 2012] was aimed at employee鈥檚 respiratory health.

鈥淭here was not a sufficient amount of dust to cause a fire or explosion. We will be as open and transparent as we can be and the employer [Hampton Affiliates] has been forthcoming and cooperative.鈥�