Fire suspends paper production at Germany’s Varel

Paper production has been suspended at Germany’s Varel due to a major fire that broke out in the company’s recovered paper yard on Monday.
Strong winds turned the fire into a major blaze that destroyed between 7,000 and 8,000 tons of recovered paper. Buildings and production lines were not damaged, nor were any casualties reported.

Production at the paper mill in Varel, however, has been partly suspended. According to the company, recycled containerboard production is currently down while board was unaffected and continued normally.

The company stated the efforts of the fire brigades in the area and the THW made it possible to effectively prevent the flames from spreading to the buildings and the machines inside them. The fire is now under control, but the firefighting will continue.

“We would like to express our gratitude to all involved fire brigades from Varel and surroundings, representatives of the authorities, the THW, the present staff and all supporters in the last hours,” a company statement read.

PKV (Papier- und Kartonfabrik Varel) operates four paper machines with a combined capacity of 850,000 tpy of recycled board and containerboard. The company is working to bring the production lines back into full operation in the coming days, and puts the expected loss in paper production output to 10,000 t.

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