Firefighters still battling sawdust blaze

Howard County firefighters continued to grapple yesterday with large, smoldering piles of sawdust at a Jessup company that turns waste wood into commercial products.

The fire started about 5 p.m. Tuesday in a building where the sawdust was stored, in the 8200 block of Dorsey Run Road.

Bill Mould, spokesman for the Howard County Department of Fire and Rescue Services, said that the fire has remained "deep-seated" in the piles of sawdust. About 15 firefighters were expected to manage the scene through last night and into today. Investigators had not determined the cause of the fire, Mould said.

The business, American Wood Fibers Co., had hired a contractor to pick up the sawdust with front-end loaders and place the material in refuse bins or trucks so it could be hauled away, Mould said. No one was injured.