Combustible dust may have caused explosion at lumber mill
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VARDAMAN, Miss. – Combustible dust may have caused an explosion at Furniture Wood Inc. Tuesday, November, 15. No one was killed.

Although they are uncertain, the local police department believes that the cause of the explosion was a sawdust bin that caught fire. Sawdust is piped out of the building into three bins. Police believe the explosion blew a pipe back into the building – engulfing the building in fire.

Smoke damage spread, but no one was hurt.

"It was just black smoke rolling out every door in the building,” Fire Chief Michael Whitten told local media. “People were running out. We thought it was worse a lot worse than what it actually was."

After an hour and a half, the fire was extinguished. Paramedics were on stand-by.

OSHA is currently investigating the cause of the explosion.

Furniture Wood Inc. manufacturers home furniture and has a staff of around 50 employees.

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Robert Dalheim

Robert Dalheim is an editor at the Woodworking Network. Along with publishing online news articles, he writes feature stories for the FDMC print publication. He can be reached at [email protected].