A federal judge has ruled against Freres Lumber Co. and subsidiary Freres Timber of Lyons, Ore., dismissing the company’s lawsuit against the U.S. Forest Service (FS) over its response to the Beachie Creek Fire in 2020. Over Labor Day weekend, the fire started on federal land and spread to private timberlands and towns along the North Santiam River east of Salem and caused five deaths and massive damage to timberlands and property.

       The lawsuit, which sought $33 million in damages, alleged the Forest Service was negligent in battling the Beachie Creek Fire in the Willamette National Forest. The complaint said officials did not put their full aerial firefighting arsenal or other resources to work in the first 14 days of the fire before it spread and became part of a complex of fires in the Santiam Canyon fueled by high winds and downed power lines.

       The Beachie Creek Fire eventually covered 193,000 acres, mostly in the Willamette National Forest, and destroyed dozens of homes in the towns of Detroit, Gates and Mill City. Rob Freres, President of Freres Engineered Wood (the company changed names in early 2024) and Freres Timber, said the ruling would be appealed and cited the FS’ “misconduct, negligence and failure to act” in responding to the fire and said they had brought the suit to change FS approach to wildfire fighting.

       Freres said the company had lost 7,000 acres of timberland in the fire, worth $30 million, and another $3 million in timber sales that were destroyed.

After a remarkable 50-year career, Allan McClure has stepped down from his role as General Manager of Altec Manufacturing, effective December 31, 2024.

“Those familiar with the veneer and plywood industry know that Allan is among the best when it comes to maintaining and installing veneer lathes. Few possess his depth of knowledge and many veneer facilities have sought his advice on optimizing operations and improving efficiency,” according to a statement from Altec. “While he takes a well-deserved break to spend time with his family, fish and travel, don’t be surprised if you still see him on site, sharing his expertise.”

McClure will continue to play a key role in the company, transitioning to mentorship and consulting where he will focus on guiding the team and contributing to product development. He will remain a valuable resource, offering support in troubleshooting, sales, and customer relations.

McClure’s career started in the mills on the green end, followed by lathe service management at Calvert Engineering, and then co-partnering in the rotary veneer lathe specialist company, Feltham-McClure, before joining Altec in 2019.

• Altec also announced David Helm as the new General Manager and assumes responsibility for day-to-day operations of the manufacturing facility in Diboll, Texas. Helm has more than 20 years of experience in the plywood industry with a background as a layup line and green end superintendent at facilities in Alabama and Texas.

“Having worked alongside Allan for more than a year in preparation for this transition, we are confident that David will be integral to the continued growth of Altec for many years to come and are thrilled to have him on our management team,” the company states.

Chile-based Celulosa Arauco y Constitución S.A. (Arauco) has selected Dieffenbacher to supply an OSB plant to replace an existing MDF line at its Trupan site in Cholguán in the Bío-Bío region of Chile. The plant is scheduled to start production in the second half of 2026.

“We operate eight production lines from Dieffenbacher, and they’re all running great,” says Tito Jara, Composite Panels Corporate Industrial Director at Arauco. “That’s why we chose Dieffenbacher for this brownfield project to convert our Trupan I MDF line into a state-of-the-art OSB line.”

The new plant will be built around an existing 10-opening press. The Dieffenbacher scope of supply will range from the wood yard with debarking to raw board handling including pneumatic systems and plant electrics and automation. Arauco has included a MAIER rotor debarker, an OSB disc screen and a belt dryer in the order.

The interaction of rotation, friction and surface moistening of the logs makes the fully automatic MAIER rotor debarker highly efficient. The logs are laterally fed into the trough, set into rotation by long rotors with debarking tools and moved to the discharge area by the tilt of the rotors. The OSB disc screen separates the strands into two or four fractions. In a first step, equalizing rollers spread the infeed strand-flow, pre-screen it and loosen it up. Two-disc roller decks then separate the strands according to their length.

Featuring low thermal energy consumption, Dieffenbacher’s belt dryer saves costs and supports sustainability because it works at lower temperatures than drum dryers and can use low-calorific energy from the waste heat of other plant components that would otherwise remain unused. In addition to its high capacity and variability, the belt dryer features easy and product-friendly material transport. Its self-supporting construction requires only a small footprint, and its modular design makes it adaptable to different capacity requirements and is easily expandable.