When the department arrived it found facility personnel outside of the structure who told MLFD there was a fire in one of the process rooms on the ground floor of the facility. The fire was later discovered to be caused by high voltage electrical equipment which caught fire at a processing tank within the facility. There were no hazardous chemicals involved or released during the fire.
The building sprinkler system went off in response to the fire and helped contain it to the one processing room. There was heat damage to the walls and ceiling of the room, however, the fire never spread.
The Moses Lake firefighters made entry into the building with extended fire hose lines to the area which was a blaze. Crews entered the building which was full of heavy smoke and limited visibility. Soon after entering, they begin fighting fire shortly after making entry. It took them around an hour to fully suppress the fire and units remained on the scene for several hours to ventilate the building and ensure the fire was completely out.
The responding agencies were MLFD Battalion 1, Chief 101, Tower 1, Engine 1, Engine 2, Medic 3 and Grant County Fire District 5.
