Yakima former mill site again hit by flames

YAKIMA, Wash. -- Fire again struck the former Boise Cascade mill Monday evening, just more than a month after a $2 million arson destroyed a building in the century-old complex off North Eighth Street.

Monday's fire occurred in a hopper designed to carry sawdust away from one of the mill buildings near the north end of the complex, firefighters said.

Black smoke and flames billowed from the area of the hopper as 16 firefighters responded shortly after 8 p.m.

Yakima Fire Chief Charlie Hines said the cause of the fire is undetermined and remains under investigation.

Hines had no damage estimate on the blaze since the buildings and equipment are being scrapped as the 211-acre site morphs over time into a multi-use commercial, residential and office complex.

Hines said the fire initially spread about 35 feet along a conveyor belt connected to the hopper before crews brought the flames under control. Firefighters did tear into the metal siding of the building to extinguish flames.

The Yakima Fire Department sent four engines, a ladder truck and a rescue vehicle to the scene. No assistance was sought from other fire departments in the Yakima area.

The fire is the second to hit the empty mill property in a month and the fifth at the property in about a year.

The July 21 fire destroyed a 60,000-square-foot building. That $2 million fire required 74 firefighters from six Yakima Valley fire departments four hours to bring under control.

No arrests have been made in that case and investigators have been tight-lipped about most details of that investigation, except to say they are offering a $10,000 reward.

On Sept. 26, the first Saturday of the Central Washington State Fair, spontaneous combustion set off a spectacular blaze that burned huge stacks of dry logs stored on the property. That fire cut power to thousands of homes and businesses, threatened closure of the fair and forced the call-up of every available firefighter in the region.

Less than two months earlier, on July 30, lightning touched off a smaller log fire. About two weeks before that fire, a $100,000 water tanker being used on the property caught fire.

An Oregon group purchased the mill property from Boise Cascade Corp. in 2004 for $3.25 million.

Frontier Resources of Eugene, Ore., which leased the mill from the new owners, closed the sawmill in August 2005, ending roughly 115 jobs.

Almost a year later, the plywood mill closed.

The site continued to operate as a wood-chipping operation until April of this year.

Owners of the 211-acre site, Norman and Melvin McDougal of Creswell, Ore., and Greg Demers of Veneta, Ore., have been working with the city to redevelop the site into a mix of commercial and retail uses.

The property recently was listed for sale for $29 million.

* City editor Craig Troianello contributed to this story.