Grandview french fry plant destroyed in fire

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