The animal was violent

k1500chevy97 · November 4, 2002

Fire from town on sept 16 00 i just found my copy of the prints a couple weeks ago so here we go

Hop warehouse completly destroyed 8 stations 10 engines 4 ladders 1 platform

A September 16 fire caused over $7 million in losses due to the spontaneous combustion of hops at the Hollingbery & Son Warehouse in Yakima, WA.

The fire destroyed 10,000 bales of dried hops, representing about three percent of the total U.S. Production, said Deputy Chief Richard Andring of the City of Yakima Fire Department.

Crews responded at midnight with an offensive strategy but evacuated the building shortly before 2:30 a.m. because of extreme fire and chemical exposures.

At 3:45 a.m. the fire breached the roof of the third story. Throughout the evening three brick masonry walls collapsed, slightly injuring two civilians and one fire department captain.

The building, valued at $3 million, continued to smolder for two to three weeks.

The presence of ammonia, used to refrigerate the hops, could be both seen and felt at the fire scene, said department photographer Terry Cronkhite.

At one point, "The fire just shot out violet," because of the ammonia burning, he said.

The ammonia in the air also filtered through exposures in the firefighters’ bunker gear, causing skin irritation.

"It attacks moisture," Cronkhite said. "Anywhere there’s moisture there’s irritation."

Natural Gas systems and a large propane tank at the scene were also concerns for the firefighters. "There were four or five different explosions," Cronkhite said.

Self-combustion is very typical of hop bales, depending on their level of moisture, and hop fires are nothing new to the Yakima Fire Department.

"We lost another warehouse about a week after that, a year to the day we lost one last year," Cronkhite said. "The hops are kind of taking a hit this year."

Assisting the Yakima Fire Department were crews from East Valley, West Valley, Union Gap, Selah, Naches Heights, Cowiche, Gleed, Zillah, Ellensburg, Prosser and Toppenish.

There were 80 firefighters on the scene, and five aerials were implemented throughout the evening: Yakima 18, Yakima 38, Prosser 18, Ellensburg 18 and Brand New Toppenish 18 on it’s maiden fire.