New Eureka plant manufacturing fireproof house panels

After a blazing wildfire demolished a third of the homes at Fort McMurray, Alberta, earlier this year, people began wondering about how to better protect their homes.

Panel Solutions, a division of the Wasatch Solutions in Utah, has opened a fireproof magnesium oxide (MGO) panel plant in Eureka this fall, hoping to turn out homes that can withstand the fire that took those in Fort McMurray. Ricky Tullis, manager of Panel Solutions, said companies have been building magnesium oxide boards for years, although the material hasn’t been full embraced by the building industry.

“It’s been used for a while, but anytime somebody steps outside an industry standard, you get a little push-back,” he said. “You don’t want to hang on to old traditions just because they’re old traditions.”

Panel Solutions wants to build homes from the material. Some may be built with MGO boards making up the exterior, others could be the whole home. The frame is still built with wood two-by-fours, he said, but the MGO material can be the difference between getting out of the house during a fire and not having enough time.

The company opened in early November. For its grand opening, Tullis and the Panel Solutions crew burned down a small building constructed with an MGO exterior. Tullis said the fire was burning at 2,000 degrees, but after 15 minutes he could still place his hand on the exterior wall and “it was cool to the touch,” he said.

“It gives you a period of time and that gives you fire resistance,” he said. “It will give the occupants of the house a lot more time to get out of the house and save lives.”

Tullis said the company decided to place a plant in Eureka because it saw a need for this kind of product in the housing market so near to wildfire danger. Earlier this year, the Roaring Lion fire destroyed 16 homes near Hamilton. Before that, the Fort McMurray Fire destroyed approximately 2,400 homes.

“We’ll be shipping homes to Fort McMurray, Canada. We’ll be doing the same thing in the U.S. and shipping them down to California,” he said.

The homes are constructed in a commercial warehouse Panel Solutions acquired earlier this year that handled essentially the same thing, minus the MGO boards. But Panel Solutions now builds regular homes as well, from log homes to custom homes. The company currently employs six people and Tullis said that number will go up once the business gets on its feet. He’s got a handful of builders who come from carpentry careers, as well as a two-member sales and marketing team that’s currently out procuring homes to be built.

“We have decades of experience behind us,” Tullis said. “Essentially it’s just this plant that’s new.”

Tullis expects Canada to make up a big part of the business, especially in the First Nations. He said there’s a major need for more housing for First Nation cultures and those who do have homes sometimes have problems with mold and mildew, something that MGO boards aren’t susceptible to.

In the United States, Tullis expects homebuilding to keep climbing, “especially with the pro-business administration coming in,” he said.

As the market becomes better and better for homebuilders across the state, Tullis hopes to run the plant at full speed, and hopes that MGO boards pick up traction in the homebuilding industry.

Reporter Seaborn Larson may be reached at 758-4441 or by email at slarson@dailyinterlake.com.