Fire at Sunrise Meats in Port Angeles halts work

PORT ANGELES — Firefighters from the Port Angeles Fire Department and Clallam Fire District No. 2 prevented a fire from causing major damage at Sunrise Meats over the weekend.

The cause of the fire that stopped traffic on First Street late Saturday night remained under investigation Sunday.

When firefighters arrived to the fire at 11:10 p.m. Saturday, they saw thick, black smoke billowing out of the chimney of the smoker and white smoke had filled the inside of the building, said Capt. Kelly Ziegler.

The fire at 1325 E. First St. was isolated to the basement, and smoke and water damage throughout the building was minimal, Ziegler said. He said the business does have insurance.

Firefighters first evacuated nearby residences before climbing atop the roof and spraying water down the chimney. They then made entry and extinguished the fire.

“As far as what happened, I can’t say for sure,” Ziegler said when asked about the cause of the fire. He said that hams in the smoker apparently fell at some point and knocked the door of the smoker, but it wasn’t clear what the cause of the fire was.

Sunrise Meats, which has been in business since 1970, specializes in smoked fish and other smoked meats.

Its owner, Steve Fink, said Sunday he hopes to reopen as soon as possible. He was at the shop Sunday cleaning up after the small fire.

“We’ve got some wiring burnt up, and some plumbing,” Fink said. “We’re just going to clean up and put it back together.”

Fink said he believed all the meat stored in the coolers and freezer was still good, though he lost about 1,000 pounds of ham in the smoker — about a week’s worth of work.

He said he was thankful for the job the firefighters did extinguishing the fire with minimal damage to the store. He said many of the firefighters in town are customers as well.

“Half the fire department has stuff here,” he said.

Ziegler said that during the fire a water pipe in the basement burst, flooding the lower floor.

Firefighters made their way to the basement and found a valve to shut off the water. Crews used water vacuums and pumps to prevent major water damage, he said.

“It was quick thinking on the guys that were down there,” Ziegler said. “Even in the dark they were able to find the water valve and get it shut off.”

Fink said that though there was product in the basement, it was up off the floor and was mostly undamaged. Because the floor is concrete, there was minimal damage.

When the city’s five on-duty firefighters initially arrived they put out a request for mutual aid. In all there were 11 firefighters and two engines from the Port Angeles Fire Department and nine firefighters and one engine from Clallam Fire District No. 2 at the scene.

Ziegler said the most challenging part of the fire was the low number of firefighters who initially responded before the request for mutual aid went out. The Port Angeles Fire Department has five-person shifts.

“We couldn’t make entry legally or safely until we had additional personnel arrive,” he said. “We had a moment where we could not enter the structure, but we put a ladder on the roof and extinguished it through the chimney.”

He said basement fires are among the most dangerous types of fires that firefighters are called to.

Ziegler said state law requires crews to have two backup firefighters for every two people who go in, and with two of the five people being an officer and an engineer, there were not enough people to legally make entry without help.

The exception to the rule is if there is a known rescue situation.

Power was initially shut off — including to the freezers — but city crews were quickly able to restore power.

“The coolers were closed and there’s no reason to believe there was any damage inside,” Ziegler said. “That will be up to the Health Department.”

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Reporter Jesse Major can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56250, or at jmajor@peninsuladailynews.com.