Rebecca Pettingill
Columbia Basin Herald, Moses Lake, Wash.
(TNS)
Oct. 24—MOSES LAKE — Sunday afternoon a building at the Wilbur-Ellis fertilizer and blending facility, located at 14903 Road 1.3 Southeast, caught fire and burned to the ground.
"This facility is not very old and they built it specifically to where it is 100% wood construction so that it doesn't have any corrosion issues with the fertilizer," said Grant County Fire District 5 Battalion Chief Robert Horst. "Fertilizer will corrode metal so they built it 100% wood so that's why it went (up in flames) so fast and so quick. One, because of all of the fertilizer but two, because of being 100% wood construction."
Grant County Sheriff's Office Public Information Officer Kyle Foreman said a call about black smoke coming from the elevator was placed at about 3:15 p.m.
When responders arrived on scene the building was already fully engulfed.
"When I was at (State Route) 17 and Interstate-90, I could already see the flames through the roof," said Horst.
A responding firefighter witnessed a flash come from inside the burning building, Foreman said, leading to a concern related to an explosion from the facility, but after a short time it was determined that the explosion risk was no longer a likely scenario.
By 5:15 p.m. the building had collapsed except for the metal elevator on the side of the structure.
"The hazard now — there is no fire hazard at this point — the biggest hazard at this point is going to be the toxic smoke and all of this water," Horst said. "The more water we put on it to try to put out the fire, the more fertilizer washes into the ground."
The smoke coming from the few flames along with ash, as well as the water covering the ground and ditch near the rubble of the building were a concern, he said. The district ceased its efforts to put more water on the fire and allowed the flames to burn themselves out.
Foreman and Horst said there will be a skeleton fire crew on scene overnight keeping an eye on the remaining flames and once it has had time to cool, most likely sometime Monday afternoon, the fire marshal will look and try to determine a cause.
Horst said it was too early to speculate what had ignited the fire at this time.
The plant, about three miles southeast of Moses Lake, did not have any employees working and no firefighters were injured fighting the blaze.
Foreman said, due to the wind carrying the smoke northeast, they advised those within a mile to go inside, shut doors and windows and turn off any outside air intakes. Those who have respiratory issues should consider basic protective measures such as wearing a mask.
Rebecca Pettingill may be reached at [email protected].
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