New plant from ashes? Too early to tell

GRANDVIEW -- Employees of the Wild River Foods potato processing plant learned about unemployment benefits available to them Wednesday, a day after a spectacular fire destroyed the building.

The future of the plant -- and the fate of the 140 jobs -- are yet to be determined.

One of the plant's managers said Wednesday the owners won't have an answer about the future until they sort through the immediate aftermath of the blaze.

"It is too soon," said Jack Calder, vice president of operations for Wild River Foods.

He said more information would be available today.

A damage estimate was not available on the fire that started with a short in an electrical panel near the center of the plant at 206 Ave. A. About 60 firefighters from 12 fire districts were on hand to battle Tuesday's fire.

Meanwhile, the owner, Ochoa Ag Unlimited Foods Inc. of Boise, Idaho, hired an environmental cleanup firm to deal with residual ammonia and the huge amount of soybean oil stored inside the building. The oil was used to process potatoes into French fries.

Firefighters on Tuesday incorrectly identified the substance as peanut oil.

NRC Environmental Services had technicians at the scene of the ruined building Wednesday to assess those two environmental issues.

Jani Gilbert, a state Ecology Department spokeswoman in Spokane, said an initial review found no residue of oil in surface water in drains that connect the city storm drainage system ultimately to the Yakima River.

Some residue was found in the storm drains, she said.

The ammonia is another matter. The substance, used as a refrigerant, was found in larger amounts than had been estimated earlier.

"It is concentrated around the facility," Gilbert said. "They are looking for where the water took it on the site."

The concern with ammonia is that it could foster the growth of algae that reduces the amount of oxygen in the water available to fish.

As the fire was being brought under control by mid-afternoon Tuesday, firefighters had dumped 3.5 million gallons of water on the blaze.

Technicians have yet to be able to enter the gutted structure because of safety concerns and small, smoldering fires that continue in the east end of the 49,000 square-foot processing plant, said George Saenz, a fire captain with the Grandview Fire Department.

Calder said one immediate focus is whether frozen french fries in storage near the processing plant can be salvaged.

None of the approximately 50 employees was injured when the fire erupted about 9 a.m. Tuesday. One firefighter was taken to a hospital for treatment of heat exhaustion. The Grandview volunteer firefighter was treated and released, Saenz said.

* David Lester can be reached at 577-7674 or dlester@yakimaherald.com.