No charges in Burns Lake mill blast that killed two: Crown

Smoke rises from the remains of the Babine Forest Products mill in Burns Lake, B.C., in this file photo from Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012. (Jonathan Hayward / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

BURNS LAKE, B.C. -- Nearly two years after an explosion and fire tore through a British Columbia sawmill leaving two workers dead, the Crown announced there will be no charges against the company, pointing a finger at a lax investigation by the province's worker safety agency.

The manner of the investigation by WorkSafeBC left significant evidence in the fatal January 2012 fire at Babine Forest Products inadmissible in court, the Criminal Justice Branch said Friday.

"Notwithstanding that fact, Crown Counsel was satisfied that the remainder of the available and admissible evidence provides a sufficient factual underpinning for a number of potential offences under provincial legislation," said a statement from the branch.

But no criminal or regulatory charges will be laid based on the report WorkSafeBC submitted in September.

The concerns raised by the branch include the failure to obtain search warrants and the failure to inform witnesses of their charter rights before taking statements.

"Based on the evidence that would likely be available for presentation by Crown Counsel in court, the branch has concluded that there is no substantial likelihood of conviction for any of the regulatory offences recommended by WorkSafeBC," the statement.

"The charge assessment analysis included consideration of a viable defence of due diligence."

Jeff Dolan, director of investigations for the worker safety agency, was not available for interviews but defended the investigation in a statement to families that was posted on the agency website.

Prior to this investigation, the Crown had approved charges in 31 cases investigated by WorkSafeBC between 1996 and 2010, 24 of which resulted in a conviction, Dolan said.

"Our officers attended the Babine site within hours of the explosion and fire and remained at the site for 13 weeks, conducting one of, if not the largest, scene examination in the history of WorkSafeBC and the province," Dolan said.

He said the investigation report handed to the Crown will be released on Monday.

A series of blasts and an ensuing fire at the mill on Jan. 20, 2012, killed Robert Luggi, 45, and Carl Charlie, 42. Twenty other employees were injured and the mill was destroyed.

A few months later, in April 2012, an explosion at the Lakeland Mills in Prince George, B.C., killed Alan Little, 43 and Glenn Roche, 46.

Crown lawyers met with the mill workers and family members of the men who died in Burns Lake on Friday to advise them of the decision.

No one from the community was immediately available to comment. An official at Hampton Affiliates, the Oregon-based owner of Babine Forest Products, said the company had just been informed of the decision and would issue a statement later Friday after reviewing the information from the Crown.

The investigation did not come up with a conclusive cause for the fire but did determine it ignited in the basement, setting alight combustible sawdust.

"Sawdust accumulation had become a challenge for Babine after it started milling beetle-killed wood in late 2010. Milling beetle-killed wood produces much more dust, and finer dust, than milling green wood," said the Crown statement.

Though the incident at Babine and Lakeland mills prompted a series of mill inspections and updated safety recommendations in the province, the investigation found that Babine had implemented a series of additional dust mitigation measures after it began milling beetle-killed wood in 2010.

And a WorkSafeBC officer who regularly inspected Babine and other sawmills in the area said the mill's dust conditions were about the same as others.

The possibilities of what started the initial fire range from an open flame to static or friction from an electric motor.

But once the fire began, both an in-house and external expert agreed that it exploded in a violent, fireball through the mill.