Wood-Panel Producer Norbord Halts Mill Production Following Alberta Wildfires

Norbord Inc said on Tuesday it suspended production at its oriented strand board (OSB) mill in High Level, Alberta, to comply with evacuation orders following nearby wildfires.

More than 4,000 people from High Level and the Bushe River First nations reserve were evacuated on Monday as the wildfires burned within 5 kilometers of the town, fire officials said at a media briefing.

All non-essential employees had been safely evacuated and there were no reported injuries, the company said.

Norbord, which is the world’s largest producer of OSB, said it was assessing the impact of the halt on production.

The company’s shares were down 2.2% at C$29.54 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

OSB is a type of wood panel used to make flooring, industrial containers and furniture.

Wildfires are common in western Canada every summer. In 2016, a blaze tore through the town of Fort McMurray in the heart of Alberta’s oil sands region, destroying thousands of homes, making it the costliest insured disaster in Canadian history.

(Reporting by Debroop Roy in Bengaluru and Nia Williams in Calgary; editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)

Related:

• Canada’s 2016 Nat Cats Bring Record Insured Damages of $3.7B
• Alberta Wildfires to Cost Insurers About $2.8B, in Canada’s Costliest Disaster

Topics Catastrophe Natural Disasters Wildfire