Significant Fire Damage to Michelson Packaging in Washington
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Shortly after 3 a.m. this past Saturday morning, the Yakima, Wash., USA, Fire Department responded to a reported unknown type of fire in stacks of finished paperboard box products. The fire department said that the first crew on scene found heavy fire in several of the finished paperboard product stacks. The fire moved very quickly to the south and ignited another area of stacked paperboard products across the alley from the original fire.
Fire crews managed to stop the fire from spreading to nearby buildings. However, there was significant damage done to an estimated 200 pallets of finished paperboard products. The total cost of burned materials including the paperboard products as well as fiber-optic power lines, reportedly is some $500 million dollars.
The products are reported to be fruit trays and pads used to box apples in paperboard boxes. Crews from the packaging company were on scene for many hours, hauling out good product and then spreading out the burned materials on scene. The site is still being monitored.
The cause of the fire is under investigation and nothing has been ruled out at this time.
