Tuesday, January 17, 2017 11:15 am

ROTHSCHILD, Wis. (From WSAU) -- Black smoke billowed from Domtar Paper in Rothschild Monday morning, but the damage was minimal.

General Manager of the mill, Kathy Collins, says the fire started in an unoccupied building on plastic pumps that carry chemicals.

Collins said, "There's no combustibles, really, inside the building, so it must have been something electrical... that ended up melting the plastic and caused a small fire on these pumps."

The fire suppression system in the building put out the fire entirely before fire crews even arrived.

"Nobody was evacuated. I've been hearing rumors that there were evacuations. There were no people in the building. No injuries occurred," said Collins. "We had some minor equipment damage when the plastic pumps burned up."

Collins also said she believes the fire started by an electrical short because of a lack of combustibles in the building, but an investigation is still under way to confirm that.

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Join Jim Thompson on the 2nd Annual Papermakers Mission Trip to Guatemala, 22 - 29 July 17. Build houses, talk about the pulp and paper industry. For more information, email jthompson@taii.com with "Guatemala" in the subject line.