FORKS — State Department of Natural Resources firefighters were summoned to ensure a fire that burned a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration atmospheric monitoring trailer did not flame out of control during Monday’s excessive heat, Forks Fire Chief Bill Paul said Tuesday.
The blaze was on an approximately 200-square-foot, fenced-in, city-owned parcel at the north end of the Forks city limit off Sitkum-Sol Duc Road.
“Flames were 15 feet in the air,” Paul said.
The NOAA station monitored atmospheric wind speed and direction, Paul said. A loss estimate was unavailable Tuesday from NOAA officials.
Paul said the fire likely was caused by a suspected electrical malfunction that occurred when the NOAA employee who reported the blaze switched air conditioning units in the 8-foot-by-14-foot trailer, which was filled with electrical equipment. The employee immediately heard electricity arc, Paul said.
The fire was knocked down within 10 minutes after Forks Fire Department crews arrived in two command vehicles, two engines and an emergency medical services unit.
DNR sent two brush trucks and seven firefighters. The area around the trailer was saturated to prevent the fire from spreading.
