Firefighters respond to fire at Verso mill in Maine



Firefighters respond to fire at Verso mill in Maine

JAY, Maine (From The Press Herald) -- Firefighters are at the Verso paper mill in Jay for a reported chemical fire.

Franklin County dispatch said at 12:45 p.m. Monday that crews were on scene but had no other information.

Verso said this summer that it had to cut 300 jobs - one-third of its workforce in Jay - and shut down a pulp dryer and a paper machine at the mill because of declining demand coupled with high energy costs and property taxes.

The mill has the capacity to produce more than 1,900 tons per day of coated groundwood and coated free-sheet papers on three coated machines, and produces specialty grades of paper on the other machine. Three machines remain in operation at the Androscoggin Mill.