Blaze in Buena injures worker, forces plant evacuation

BUENA — One man was taken to a hospital with burns and about 90 workers were evacuated after a brief electrical fire Wednesday at a cold storage plant.

The fire at Obert Cold Storage started with an electrical short in the compressor room shortly before noon, said Capt. JJ Ihnen of Yakima County Fire District No. 5.

Firefighters took about 45 minutes to put out the flames, which scorched the rafters and frame of the 15-by-15-foot compressor room, Ihnen said. The blaze stayed within the cinder block room and did not threaten any chemicals, pipes or fuels at the site.

However, the flames burned one man, said Mary Anaya, a human resources employee. She declined to give his name. The man was taken by ambulance to Yakima Regional Cardiac and Medical Center with “non-life-threatening” burns on his hand and possibly his face, she said.

A damage estimate was not available.