UPDATE, 3:30 p.m. MENOMINEE, Mich. (AP) — County officials in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula declared a local emergency Friday afternoon as fire crews continued battling a fire at a paper mill that was producing a dense cloud of smoke.
Menominee city police said Menominee County officials and emergency management officials had issued an emergency declaration, and the public was urged to avoid the area.
A spokesman for Resolute Forest Products said the fire began in Menominee, Michigan, about 11 p.m. CDT Thursday in a warehouse that contained pulp and waste paper.
No injuries were reported in the fire along Michigan’s border with Wisconsin. Five fire departments were called to the scene to fight the blaze, the Stephenson Fire Department said.
Some locations in adjacent Marinette, Wisconsin, were closed due to the smoke and area schools were keeping students indoors until the end of the school day.
The fire began at a warehouse Montreal-based Resolute Forest Products rents from KK Integrated Logistics on the site of Resolute’s Menominee recycled pulp mill along the Menominee River, said David Marshall, a company spokesman. He said Friday morning that the fire was under control.
The paper mill makes paper pulp and employs nearly a hundred people, according to the company’s website, which says Resolute Forest Products is a leading producer of lumber, newsprint and other wood products.
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MENOMINEE, MI (AP)— Crews from several fire departments were battling a large fire Friday at a paper mill in Menominee that began hours earlier in a warehouse, authorities said.
A spokesman for Resolute Forest Products said the fire, which was producing a dense cloud of smoke, began about 11 p.m. CDT Thursday in a warehouse that contained pulp and waste paper, WBAY-TV reported.
No injuries were reported in the fire along Michigan’s border with Wisconsin. But the blaze was so large crews from five fire departments were called to the scene, the Stephenson Fire Department said in a Facebook post.
The fire began a warehouse that Montreal-based Resolute Forest Products rents from KK Integrated Logistics on the site of Resolute’s Menominee recycled pulp mill along the Menominee River, said David Marshall, a company spokesman.
“Local fire departments have been on-site all night, and the fire is under control, although smoke is still billowing due to smoldering in the warehouse,” he said.
The paper mill makes paper pulp and employs nearly a hundred people, according to the company’s website. Resolute Forest Products has 40 facilities across the U.S. and Canada and is a leading producer of lumber, newsprint and other wood products.
