When a fiery explosion took the lives of two Babine Forest Products mill workers on the night of Jan. 20, 2012 and left 19 others injured, nobody was thinking of what the future would look like. All efforts were on rescuing survivors and getting them to the hospital.
Fifteen months later, with work underway to replace the destroyed mill, the town can take some comfort in knowing that its loss of a major employer wasn’t permanent. A recent remembrance ceremony to mark the one year anniversary of the explosion showed that the community continues to mourn the loss of those killed, and to remember the pain of those injured.
April 28, 2013, is the National Day of Mourning remembering lives lost and injured in the workplace. Some of the injured workers took the time recently to talk about their experiences that night and of the months following.
Dirk Weissbach recalled he had just returned from a coffee break when the explosion tore through his workplace.
“I was blown back; my helmet was shattered from debris… my safety glasses must have just melted away because I was told the heat was about 5000 degrees… I could hear guys screaming for help but I didn’t know who it was or where it was coming from,” Weissbach said. “I could barely see and then the flames started to come. I thought I didn’t have much time.”
“I had to get out or I would die here and I knew in my heart that I had to get home to my wife, Kathleen.”
Weissbach later discovered that he had four broken ribs, a broken collarbone, damaged lungs and burns to his face. He continues to live under treatment by specialists for back pain.
“Our future is still uncertain,” he said. “I’m not sure if I will continue to live here or move, or even what kind of job I will get. I’m still physically healing.”
From the night of the explosion, through to when dressings were removed from Weissbach’s burnt face, and straight to this day, he credits his wife Kathleen for keeping him strong.
“Without my wife, I don’t think I could have made it this far,” he said. “None of us would.”
Ryan Clay, an 11-year employee of the mill, suffered severe burns to his face and hands that night. Heavy clothing worn because of the severely cold weather that evening saved him from even worse injuries.
Clay and his partner Brenna Johnson were together before the explosion, but the event clarified her role in his life. They are now engaged to be married.
“When I was in there burning and trying to find my way out, she was my motivation to get the hell out of there,” Clay said. “I was able to get out of there pretty fast.”
Clay said that his physical injuries have healed remarkably well. However, the emotional and psychological trauma of being involved in a workplace disaster remain with him.
“It’s been a long road, not only physically, but emotionally,” Clay said. “Even with these latest explosions in the States [Chicago and Texas], it’s still all you think about; people missing their arms and legs. That could have been me.”
Clay will attend Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops this coming fall for a waste water management program. Tuition for the 10 month program, as well as funds to help with the cost of living, will come from the workers compensation board.
It wasn’t easy getting to where he is now. Clay said the real turning point came when he was told that he wouldn’t have to go back to mill work.
“The biggest step for me in moving forward was when they told me I wouldn’t have to go back to the sawmill,” he said. “I worked in the mill for about 11 years and I just about burned to death in there. There’s no way I’m going back.”
Syd Neville suffered severe burns to almost 30 per cent of this body, included terrible burns to his torso that are far from being healed.
Burns heal differently from person to person. In Neville’s case, surgeons have only recently started the skin grafting procedures that some injured workers received much earlier.
“My torso is quite messed up,” he said. “Two weeks ago I had skin grafting surgery. A lot of guys get that done first, but with me they waited till it healed because it [the scarring] was so thick.”
“It’s been a long road,” Neville said. “It’s tiring. I’m constantly in pain. It’s not a vacation to be off work for a year.”
A lot of uncertainty remains for Neville. He doesn’t know when he will be healed enough to think about going back to work, and he doesn’t know what kind of work he will be able to return to or where.
Despite the uncertainty in his life, he said that life has to go on. He plans on marrying his partner Marley Bell this summer on Vancouver Island.
“All I’m focussing on is healing and the wedding,” Neville said. “I would not have been able to do this without her. She has been my rock. We’ve gone through it together.”
It’s difficult, logistically, to constantly have to leave Burns Lake to get treatment in Prince George or Vancouver, Neville said. But he’s become more appreciative of the small town in the meantime.
“I grew up here but I didn’t really appreciate it as a teenager,” he said. “There’s something special about these small communities, [in how] the community rallied together in support.”
“I’m appreciative of this community and everything it has done.”
Recovery has not been easy and is far from complete. Not all injured workers wanted to discuss their recovery, either physical and emotional. It would also be misleading to suggest that there are no hard feelings remaining for the workplace that was the source of so much pain and trauma in the lives of workers and their families.
The comments made by here highlight the strength and support of family-ties and bonds with loved ones that have helped to carry them from that evening until today.
“We still have a stretch in the road to recovery, but I know with the love and support of each other, we will get there,” said Weissbach.
“There are two of my co-workers that didn’t have that same privilege.”
Derek McDonald chose not to comment at this time, and Kenny Michell was unable to be reached for comment.