Remember When?

40 YEARS AGO • NOVEMBER 4, 1982

DECISION DUE ON

TIE PLANT FUTURE

A decision regarding the future of the Burlington Northern’s tie plant, destroyed by fire last week, is expected to be made by the end of this week, Bill Joplin, manager of BN public relations in Billings told The Ledger.

He said the decision will be made by the BN engineering department after they have studied all the facts and figures regarding rebuilding the plant.

At stake are the jobs of 34 men employed in the tie plant plus the jobs of several woods and mill workers involved in supplying green ties to the plant under contract to the BN.

The tie plant was destroyed by the blaze which erupted Wednesday morning as two men, Loy Sears and Lars Allestad were working on a retort tube inside the main plant building. Rural Fire Chief Clarence Fried said Sears was using a cutting torch and Allestad was welding.

A spark from either piece of equipment may have ignited a creosote soaked board and the fire quickly spread despite efforts to extinguish the blaze with local fire extinguishers and then by the Plains-Paradise Rural Fire Dept. which quickly responded to the call.

Toxic fumes erupting from the burning insulation on the building and two huge creosote tanks created concern for residents of nearby Paradise. However, the wind was blowing strongly enough that it wafted the smoke away as soon as it reached the town. Reports were that the insulation on the building exterior created a cyanide gas when heated.

A total of 22 a firemen and plant employees were taken to the Clark Fork Valley Hospital at Plains for observation. Only one man, Jim Snead, was kept overnight. The others were released after being observed for a minimum of five hours.

One of the two storage tanks inside the plant was reported to contain about 20,000 gallons of creosote. The heat from the fire caused the top of the tank to expand and push through the roof of the metal building.

The two retort tubes are used to pressure treat the ties with penta and creosote. After the ties are rolled into the retort tubes on small cars, both ends of the tube are bolted shut, like a pressure cooker. The creosote mixture is sprayed on the ties at a temperature of 180 degrees and the pressure inside the retort tube raised as the treatment process continues.

The plant was being prepared for the start of the fall run, scheduled to begin this week. The 10-month run extends to the end of September, when the plant is shut down for annual maintenance.

The insulation was applied last winter in a modernization program.

The fire started outside one retort tube, but inside the building.

Sears and Allstad alerted everyone at work to vacate the building as the fire spread and grew in intensity. There were no injuries.

The fire occurred about 10:30 a.m.

Jack Johnson, a foreman, was in charge of operations at the time.

The damage was confined to the main tie treatment building and did not reach the nearby boiler room. The office, located a few yards downwind from the plant, also survived the fire due to the efforts of the firemen.

The BN has another tie plant located at Somers on the north end of Flathead Lake.

One Paradise resident, who watched the fire from across Highway 200, was asked if there was an explosion. She replied, “No, it just looked real ugly and smelled real bad.”

The tie plant is the largest employer for Paradise residents and some of the workers commute from their homes in Plains.

In 1907 the tie treating plant was constructed in Paradise on the south side of the yards. An average of 1,028,467 ties were used in maintenance of a 3,250-mile mainline, 315 ties per mile. The ties were cut in nearby forests.