Walla Walla fire engulfs mountain of chickpeas - The Seattle Times
WALLA WALLA — Flames shot more than 50 feet in the air as three fire departments fought a fully engulfed mountain of legumes on Friday night.
The fire at Blue Mountain Seed was called in around 11 p.m.
Two buildings, each about 80 feet in length and 40 feet wide, housed thousands of tons of chickpeas — the fuel for the fire, which took two hours to control.
Nine hours later, the fire still remained active. Smoldering sections deep in stacked apple bins or loosely piled mounds kept firefighters continually dousing the smoky areas on Saturday morning.
An inversion trapped smoke, forcing a white cloud to cling close to city streets and fan out to the northwest as far as the Washington State Penitentiary.
The most severely affected neighbors live just east of the seed company's mounds, Walla Walla Fire Department Capt. Steve Sickles said.
No injuries were reported, and damage to neighbors' homes was limited to cracked paint or melted siding, he added.
At the La Quinta Inn, a couple hundred feet west of the seed company, guest-services manager Keshia Arland said there were many complaints and a few customers who checked out, but most guests were simply moved to rooms on the opposite side of the building.
Officials were uncertain how long the tons of chickpeas would continued to smolder. Sickles said he expects the entire accumulation will have to be torn apart so water can be applied to the smoldering areas.
No cause was determined, but Sickles called the fire "suspicious."
11 Sep, 2011--
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