QUILCENE — A fire destroyed a maintenance building containing diesel and propane at Penny Creek Quarry about two miles south of Quilcene on Tuesday afternoon.
No one was injured in the blaze at the quarry on Penny Creek Road off state Highway 104, said Quilcene Fire Department Chief Robert “Mo” Moser.
The 40-foot-by-60-foot wooden shed was engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived after receiving a 9-1-1 emergency call at 12:47 p.m., said Moser, whose district was the lead agency fighting the fire.
There were no injuries, said Bill Beezley, spokesman for East Jefferson Fire-Rescue, which assisted Quilcene along with Brinnon and Discovery Bay fire departments and Port Ludlow Fire and Rescue.
An investigation into the cause of the fire will begin today, said Moser, who kept a crew at the site Tuesday night to guard it from interference and watch for flare-ups.
The building contained a 2,000-gallon diesel tank, acetylene tanks and propane tanks.
Moser’s “emphasis turned to protecting the emergency responders on scene while keeping the tanks cool and containing the fire,” Beezley said, with one team of firefighters keeping a steady stream of water on the diesel tanks while others attacked hot spots nearby.
Said Moser: “We had a couple of small explosions but nothing big.
“We later learned that the caps ‘popped’ off the acetylene tanks from the heat, but they were empty,” he said.
The fire was reported after a semi-truck driver arrived at the quarry to have his truck weighed and noticed smoke and flames coming from the building across the street, Beezley said.
The driver went into the yard office and told the facility’s manager, Mike Hathaway, who ran across the street and attempted to enter the building, Beezley said.
“The door wouldn’t open,” Hathaway told Beezley.
“It was like heat from inside was sucking the door closed, so I ran back across the street and called 9-1-1.”
Hathaway said four employees worked at the quarry and that while they could still do some work, the lack of a maintenance facility would limit operations.
Twenty firefighters used three engines and three water tenders to fight the fire.
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Managing Editor/News Leah Leach can be reached at 360-417-3531 or leah.leach@peninsuladailynews.com.
