Worker burned in blast at former mill

The Associated Press

MISSOULA  — Authorities say a worker was burned in an explosion while he was tearing down a storage tank at a former pulp mill in Frenchtown.

Fire department spokesman Mel Holtz said the worker at the former Smurfit-Stone Container Corp. facility was using a cutting torch on a hopper Monday morning when dust from the cornstarch it once held ignited. 

The man, whose name has not been released, was hospitalized. 

Authorities have not said how badly he was injured.

Since Smurfit-Stone closed the linerboard plant in January 2010, several accidents and fires associated with its demolition have been reported.

In January 2012, a worker was almost killed when a slab of sheet metal fell on him. That summer, a fire broke out in a debris pile after starting in walls caked with wood chips and dust.