PRINCE GEORGE, B.C. - Officials in Prince George, B.C., have lifted a state of local emergency after a major fire that destroyed a plywood mill was brought under control Tuesday afternoon.

Fire Rescue Service crews will remain on site for containment and mop-up work throughout the night, the city said.

The first fire started early Monday evening at Canfor's North Central Plywoods plant in the central B.C. town, destroying that facility.

Workers said the blaze appeared to have started in one of the plant's three veneer dryers but quickly spread across the roof.

Crews managed to control that blaze by late Monday night but sparks ignited material at a warehouse in a B.C. Rail industrial area, nearly two kilometres away, destroying that structure early Tuesday morning.

"A state of emergency was declared at 1:30 this morning,'' Prince George city spokesman Kevin Brown said Tuesday. "Of course that was put into place to allow the Prince George fire and rescue members to haul in extra resources if they had needed them.

"The state of local emergency would have also helped in case the area needed to be evacuated but there has not been an evacuation.''

Brown said in addition to the fires at the Canfor site and Interior Warehousing, a pile of railway ties also burned through the night.

"They are part of the CN Rail maintenance yard and as one would expect with wooden, treated rail ties, those are very volatile.''

Jim White, director of operations for the Provincial Emergency Program. said PEP officials were notified Monday night that the fires posed a potential hazardous materials risk and Ministry of Environment staff were dispatched to monitor the situation.

The main concern is that run-off from the water being used to douse the fires could run into ditches and could enter the nearby Fraser River, White said.

"There's always going to be some hazmat (hazardous materials) issue with the water running off from the fire,'' he said.

"A number of creosote piles were burning, and things like that. When you pump a significant amount of water in an industrial park you get a lot of water washing through the fire site that's going to wash debris down into the ditches.''

Firefighters were also called to a fire in the downtown core of the central B.C. city at dawn, but quickly doused the flames in a dumpster. Authorities believe the fire, which spread to a nearby lighting store and caused significant damage, was deliberately set.

The fires stretched the resources of city staff and Brown called it "truly remarkable'' that there were no reports of serious injuries.

"We knew through most of the evening there was hot embers blowing in the wind, spreading for a distance of up to three kilometres but no other fires started -- there were some spot fires -- but no other major fires and the other thing is that nobody was hurt or injured,'' he said.

Brown said Prince George Fire and Rescue crews also managed to minimize the threat from volatile chemicals stored near the burning warehouse.

But the damage to the city, which is already reeling from a severe downtown in the forest industry, may be felt for some time.

Canfor said the mill is inoperable.

"Thankfully, there were no serious injuries to employees as a result of the fire,'' the company said in a statement.

The company planned an information session for employees Wednesday.

"No decisions have been made regarding the status of the operation,'' said the statement, which added that no material financial impact is expected on the company due to the fire.

The mill produces 185 million square feet of plywood annually and employs approximately 250 people.