SaskatchewanA massive pile of logs that caught fire Monday morning at the Meadow Lake Mechanical Pulp yard was continuing to burn Tuesday, and fire crews say the blaze won’t stop anytime soon.Fire chief says wood could burn for a weekHalyna Mihalik · CBC News · Posted: Oct 28, 2025 2:31 PM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours agoListen to this articleEstimated 2 minutesFirefighters pour water onto a log pile on fire at Meadow Lake Mechanical Pulp mill on Monday. (Submitted by Jeremy Kane Laird)A massive pile of logs that caught fire Monday morning at the Meadow Lake Mechanical Pulp yard was continuing to burn Tuesday, and fire crews say the blaze won’t stop anytime soon.“It’s actually probably going to burn for at least a week, maybe longer, just due to the amount of material burning,” Meadow Lake fire department Chief Joe Grela told CBC Tuesday morning.The fire department sent eight firefighters to the scene on Highway 55, just west of the city, after receiving a call from mill employees about a fire in their log pile at 8:30 a.m. CST on Monday.“We’re probably talking about 100,000 cubic meters of logs here, so quite an immense material,” Grela said.The company that owns the mill, Domtar, said the destruction of the wood is a huge loss.”It comes at a time that the whole sector is under a lot of pressure, due in part to tariffs,” said Chris Stoicheff, senior director of public affairs for Domtar.”It’s always unfortunate when something like this happens, but it’s particularly unfortunate at a difficult time for the sector across the country.”A log pile at Meadow Lake Mechanical Pulp mill was engulfed in flames on Monday evening. (Submitted by Jeremy Kane Laird)The fire department confirmed no one had been injured. There was no word yet on the amount or value of the total product lost.Firefighters were still at the site Tuesday to monitor the log pile for hot spots, but Grela said the wood will all have burned soon.“Now we’re just kind of monitoring the log pile; it’s basically burnt down.”WATCH | Raw drone video shows massive wood fire at Meadow Lake pulp mill:Raw drone video shows massive wood fire at Meadow Lake pulp millA fire broke out at Meadow Lake Mechanical Pulp Inc., near Meadow Lake, Sask., Monday morning. More than a day later, crews were still on scene fighting the large fire.The mill’s wood room was shut down as firefighters kept an eye on the smouldering logs. The fire department said the rest of the mill was running as usual.Stoicheff commended the efforts of the local fire department in getting the flames under control.”It’s an active situation, but it has improved considerably over the last 12 hours or so,” Stoicheff said. “We’re very grateful for that and for the work of the community in supporting that firefighting effort. “The cause of the fire is still under investigation.The rest of the mill is running as usual, the fire department says. (Submitted by Jeremy Kane Laird)ABOUT THE AUTHORHalyna Mihalik is a journalist and weather specialist for CBC Saskatchewan. She holds a degree in journalism from the University of Regina. Halyna enjoys stories about advocacy, local politics and rural communities. Send Halyna news tips at halyna.mihalik@cbc.ca
Fire at pulp mill near Meadow Lake, Sask., still smouldering after ‘immense’ blaze
