Employees at Plum Creek Timber Co.’s fiberboard plant are back at work today picking up the pieces of this week’s explosion and fire in Columbia Falls. Company spokesperson Kate Tate says all 183 medium density fiberboard plant employees are assisting in the cleanup as the investigation into the cause of Tuesday’s explosion begins.

Tate said an initial inspection of the facility showed that much of the equipment inside the fiberboard plant escaped the blast unscathed, but there was extensive water damage to the facility’s computer systems. Tate estimates that the plant could be reopened in a month.

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A preliminary investigation by the Plum Creek Timber Co. has found that a “catastrophic bearing failure” on a raw material belt line caused Tuesday’s explosion at the company’s Columbia Falls’ medium density fiberboard plant, company officials tell the Beacon.

According to spokesperson Kate Tate, the bearing failure on the belt line ignited raw wood fibers and the belt itself. The fire then spread to insulation on a duct pipe above the line, which ignited wood fibers inside the pipe and caused a series of explosions. Tate said company officials would continue their investigation next week.

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COLUMBIA FALLS – Firefighters returned to the site of the Plum Creek Timber Co. explosion early Wednesday morning to fight a residual fire that flared up in a second building near the fiberboard plant. Columbia Falls Fire Chief Rick Hagen said the fire was buttoned up shortly after the 4 a.m. emergency response, but firefighters from his department will remain on standby as a precaution.

“We’re just here in case something flares up,” he said.