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Firefighters extinguish early morning blaze at paper mill
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An early morning  fire kept firefighters busy Thursday at Interstate Paper in Riceboro.

According to Riceboro Volunteer Fire and Rescue Fire Chief Dennis Fitzgerald, the fire at the paper mill located at 2366 Interstate Paper Road was reported shortly after 2:30 a.m. Reportedly, a conveyor belt which feeds sawdust into the power plant was engulfed in fire.  Fitzgerald said units from Lake George and Walthourville, as well as Liberty County Fire Chief Brian Darby, were called in to fight the blaze which took less than an hour to bring under control.  According to Fitzgerald, the structure was 30 to 40 feet high and about 150 feet of the belt was on fire.  Conditions were made more difficult when embers from sawdust on the conveyor belt would fall onto the sawdust below catching on fire as well as sawdust in the area being soft and soggy making it difficult to bring fire trucks closer.  

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