Onalaska chicken farm and almost 200 acres consumed by wildfire

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Chicken farm fire on the 200 block of Gore Road. / Courtesy photo by Rhonda Volk

Updated at 5:49 p.m.

By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter

CHEHALIS – The fire believed to have been sparked by a tractor-brush hog operating in a field in Onalaska destroyed a dozen chicken barns and burned 175 acres of property.

Crews are still on the scene this morning.

“Everything is black, burned, but nothing right now is causing any major hazard,” Lewis County Fire District 8 Chief Duran McDaniel said this morning.

It was reported shortly after 2 p.m. yesterday at the Neilson’s chicken farm on the 200 block of Gore Road.

Crews created what McDaniel called a wet line to protect the farm and also to keep fire from getting to an 18,000 gallon propane tank.

McDaniel and two of his firefighters were putting water down around the tank when flames about 25 feet tall rolled over the fire break towards them, he said. Some neighbors were in the area as well, he said.

“We left on foot,” McDaniel said. “There was probably six or seven of us that ran out of there.”

They left behind a 2,500 gallon fire engine-tender that was destroyed, he said.

McDaniel called for everyone – fire personnel and residents alike – to evacuate the area for at least a half mile away from the propane tank, and then enlarged the zone to a mile, he said.

“The size of it, if it blew, it would have launched itself about a mile,” he said.

McDaniel at that point requested help from every fire chief in Lewis County. Assistance came that included fire tenders from all or almost all departments in the county, as well as two from Thurston County and two from Cowlitz County, he said.

Firefighters with the state Department of Natural Resources responded as well, he said.

The firefighting effort couldn’t continue until after a DNR helicopter was able to observe that the only thing still left burning near the tank was the fire truck, he said.

Homes in the area of the fire have Onalaska addresses, but are protected by the Lewis County Fire District 8, based in Salkum.

The farmer’s house was saved as was a neighbor’s barn and several other structures, according to McDaniel.

But 12 large chicken buildings were lost; eight of them occupied by poultry, he said.

Nobody was injured, but two firefighters became overheated, he said.

Critical fire weather conditions are expected to continue through the weekend, according to the state Department of Natural Resources.

DNR is warning the public to take every available precaution to protect themselves during what they call emergency conditions.

All available resources, both statewide and nationally, are already deployed fighting wildfires across the American West, according to Carrie McCausland, DNR’s deputy director of communications.

More than 1,000 firefighters are battling 10 large wildfires on the other side of the mountains, where more than 120,000 acres have burned.

Three U.S. Forest Service firefighters were killed yesterday fighting fires in Okanogan County, and other federal and state wildland firefighters were burned or injured.

McCausland urges members of the public to take any evacuation order or emergency direction with the utmost seriousness.

Most firefighting agencies have, by necessity, adopted a defensive posture to contain the already overwhelming spread of wildfires, she stated in a news release this morning.

A fire that broke out a week and a half ago south of Gish Road in Onalaska scorched 102 acres of private property and at one point had about 170 personnel assigned to it.

On Aug. 5, approximately 50 DNR firefighters were working about four miles north of the Gish Road fire to extinguish 18 acres of burning brush and trees off Centralia-Alpha Road.

After District 8’s call for assistance yesterday, the Chehalis Fire Department was put on standby to answer any other calls as far away as Mossyrock, wherever they might be needed.

Lewis County Sheriff’s Office Cmdr. Dusty Breen said deputies provided traffic control and helped with evacuations.

Breen said it appeared the fire originated with the tractor-brush hog, but they are conducting an investigation.

U.S. Highway 12 was closed at Leonard Road in Ethel, and then expanded to reach from Jackson Highway at Mary’s Corner to Fuller Road in Salkum.

Gore Road was shut down at Fred Plant Road on the east end to Leonard Road at the west end; and Leonard’s closure extended north to Gish Road.

The Lewis County 911 center put out reverse 911 calls to advise residents in the area to evacuate beginning just after 3 p.m. and ending at 7:45 p.m. The Code Red emergency alert warning system is available to those who register their phone numbers with it.

McDaniel said it wasn’t until about 11 p.m. they felt like the fire was under control enough to wrap up for the night.

DNR is estimating the fire is 50 to 60 percent contained this morning.

District 8’s fire engine-tender that burned is worth about $350,000, according to McDaniel.
•••

For background, read “Breaking news: Large fire prompts evacuations near Ethel” from Wednesday August 19, 2015, here

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Deputies and firefighters knocked on doors for an evacuation of one mile in every direction after fire rolled over an 18,000 gallon propane tank. / Courtesy photo by John Cleveland

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11 Responses to “Onalaska chicken farm and almost 200 acres consumed by wildfire”

  1. Just a Lews County Resident says:

    Just wanted to say how very, very grateful our family is for all our fire and medical crews. They put their lives on the line for us and give so generously of their time and energy. As others have said, most of the fire fighters are volunteers that give up a night every week to attend training meetings, and sacrificially give of their free time (after their day-to-day jobs), and get up in the middle of the night, to do what they can to save our neighbors’ lives and property. They do this because they are the kind of people that are willing to serve others. We should be nothing but grateful for their service!!! We love our country living, and we are SO very THANKFUL for all the men and women that work SOOO hard so that we can continue to enjoy rural living, knowing that they will be there for us in our time of need. A BIG THANK YOU to each and every one of you!!!!!!

  2. BobbyinLC says:

    I do not have all the details like Anne and Bill have said but as usual someone posts a dopey response and when confronted by the truth just remains quiet. This is more of an entertainment blog rather than news.

  3. Bill Wood says:

    Blah your comment that our chief left the scene are totally false. He was still there until after I left at 10:30 and had been there continuously. I will not argue tactics with a moron but at 2 p.m on a weekday most of our crew are at there day jobs and calling for mutual aid is the responsible thing to do. No district is left totally
    uncovered because believe it our not we have thought of that mutual aid responses are not uncommon because I don’t think there is a district in the county that has enough volunteers I would also say I have been a volunteer for a long time and I do not ever remember a grass/brush fire moving as fast as this one did. We meet every Thursday at 7 pm at Salkum Fire Hall and welcome any one who would like to volunteer. In closing I would say just because your sisters cousins brother heard a rumor or read it on facebook does not make it true. Bill Wood Asst. Chief Salkum Dist 8

  4. Anne Piper says:

    To blah! Our Chief in district 8 did exactly as he should have. He did not leave the scene just after the truck burned, rather was sent home by the Safety Officer after being on scene nearly 10 hours, and even then, he was back and forth checking on the crew and was available via radio the entire time he was at home. The safety of the crew was paramount when deciding in a split second to leave the truck behind. A fire truck can be replaced, humans can’t. We had EMT’s available away from the fire scene for medical calls, and unfortunately they were busy also.
    Except for our secretary, who works part time on administrative duties, our entire crew, including the chief, are volunteers. They have been on the fire scene now for over 2 days, and it will probably several more days. Most of these men & women work, and have been at the scene between their paid job hours. I talked with a volunteer who left the scene Thursday at 2am, changed and went to his job, and was back on the fire scene after putting in an 8 hr day. These are our heroes, Blah. They are well trained. We asked for help from other districts as the danger level and burning area was so large, and we wanted surrounding homes protected also. The danger of the tank exploding was real, and our district did what was necessary and will continuue to do the same. I suggest you not criticize the Chief until you have walked in his shoes, but I suspect you will never be given the opportunity to do that. No district was left uncovered, but some brave men and women stepped forward to help.
    Anne Piper
    Commissioner, Lewis County Fire Protection District 8 and proud of my Chief and department.

  5. Free Air says:

    Sounds like the chief blew it.
    All he had to do was trust the lives of his crew to a $250 pressure relief valve that has most likely not been tested in years and just stay put against a wind driven fire. Boy did he have his priorities messed up!

  6. Steven says:

    Obviously you forgot about the tanks that blew up at the atlas foundry in tacoma circa 2008?

  7. blah says:

    What a Brilliant move Chief! Burn your fire engine up and panic….Then call for every district to respond for mutual aide and leave every other district essentially uncovered. Yes Chehalis was standing by to cover, but if someone was in cardiac arrest in mossyrock how long would it take the medics in reach them. by that time it may not make a difference. What a piss poor chief not only did he burn the tax payers money up, he paniced afterwards and stripped lots of coverage from the county but he went home shortly after the engine burned up while everyone else was still fighting the fire in HIS district which he had control of the scene. After things started settling down he returned like the he was the savior of all. What a waste, maybe the commissioners need to look into his ability to lead and train the dept, maybe its time for a replacement/upgrade…

  8. Randy Bateman says:

    Concerned is wrong about what happens to propane tanks in a fire. Suggest he look up bleve demo on you tube. The relief valve works for a while but in the end the tanks bleve. That’s an acronym for boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion.

  9. Hillbilly says:

    In reply to the comments made by “Concerned”, I ordinarily do not take the time to type responses to such foolhardy comments, but your comments do deserve particularly special attention. I have no idea of your motivation to publicly air your lack of knowledge of firefighting, but you obviously need the education that a five-minute Google search can provide. 23 Seconds into my search on BLEVE’s I found an article in Fire Engineering that sources from the NFPA (you can search for this too!) and the National Propane Gas Association (I assume you are on their board of directors since you are obviously an expert on LP Gas regulations) , The NFPA warns “Don’t assume that operating relief vents will prevent a BLEVE.” The National Propane Gas Association says, “This may mean pulling personnel out of the area whenever a tank’s relief valves are working. As soon as LP-Gas tank relief valves begin shrieking, it’s too late to apply cooling water to the tank. The next action should be immediate withdrawal of all personnel, as a BLEVE is imminent.” So, even if the “blow-off valves” had operated, there is still an extreme risk until the entire contents of the tank had vented and burned off (all the while maintaining a constant supply of cooling water on the tank to prevent weakening of the metal tank, which by the way is a very complicated maneuver.) The call was made to evacuate until the integrity of the tank could be determined. For further light reading, examples of large propane explosions, and an education on what the firefighters and command staff must decide in seconds, I recommend a fine online publication such as Fire Engineering. Have a fine evening! Thank you firefighters and we should all thank God for keeping everyone safe!

  10. Concerned says:

    All propane tanks above 5000 gallons are required by law to have multiple ‘blow off valves’ or ‘snappy joes’ they are called that would opened automatically and let heated high pressure gases out preventing a ‘launch’ sad to say our emergency personnel didn’t have the knowledge on how to fight the fire properly. They put lives at risk and lost a fire tender. The myth that high capacity propane tanks are bombs or missiles are unfounded. Liquid propane turns to gas when warmed but still needs oxygen to burn there is no oxygen inside there for fuel it will not burn. A vertical flare may be present but only where the valve(s) have automatically opened. Essentially the propane would have just burned off like an oil rig until the propane supply is exhausted. Evacuation lol.

  11. Maile Lakely says:

    A HUGE THANK YOU TO ALL THE BRAVE FIRE FIGHTERS!!!! I would much rather be mourning a tender than a fighter. God Bless all.