RSSGrandview french fry plant destroyed in fire
E-mail
Print
Comments
Watch the Wild River Foods fire
More 'Local'
- Battling Wapato blaze
- Motor home fire threatening homes in Outlook
- Autopsy confirms woman's death caused by gunshot
- 07/03/09 Photo Journal
- Teacher involved in feces fiasco reprimanded
- Autopsy today for I-82 shooting victim
- Is Puyallup’s Nearly Naked Fireworks stand too hot?
GRANDVIEW -- A major fire has been contained within a frozen food plant in downtown Grandview, but the building is a total loss, according to firefighters at the scene.
Firefighters from Hanford, Grandview, Yakima, Toppenish and Sunnyside responded to the 9-1-1 call about 9 a.m. The building is located at 206 Avenue A, across from Grandview City Hall.
About 140 workers were evacuated from Wild River Foods, which makes frozen french fries. There were no reports of injuries.
Caterino Macias, 42, operates the bagging machine at the end of the processing line, and was in the plant when the fire began.
"I heard a noise. I didn't see what the problem was, then the alarms began going off and everybody ran out," Macias said.
Incident commanders said the fire started in an electrical panel in the middle of the two-story masonry building, and a spark caused the fire.
Ken Aker, who works at nearby Kenyon Cold Storage, said he saw flames in the plant's engine room, which spread rapidly to the north and to the rest of the building.
In addition to the fire engines, three aerial trucks were sent from Yakima, Toppenish and Hanford. Firefighters used the large boom trucks to spray water onto the flames from high up in the air, but the roof collapsed and the 100,000-square-foot plant was destroyed.
Wild River Foods opened about 18 months ago, when the plant was purchased by OB2.
This morning's fire comes a day after firefighters responded to another fire just a block away at 125 Division St. KNDO reported that an early morning fire destroyed Su Mercado market. About 1 a.m. Monday, crews from stations in the Lower Valley reponded to the call, and it took about three hours to extinguish the fire, KNDO reported.
-- David Lester
Readers are encouraged to use these forums to discuss issues affecting the Yakima Valley. Comment writers should refrain from personal attacks and offensive remarks, and comments should be free of any personally identifiable information, such as e-mail addresses, mailing addresses and phone numbers. If you believe a comment is inappropriate, you can bring it to our attention by clicking the "report violation" link by the comment.
Registered User?
