PORT ANGELES — A small fire at the newly opened Peninsula Plywood drew a host of firefighters and law enforcement officers fire Tuesday night.
Port Angeles Fire Department led the effort to put out the small fire in the ceiling above one of the dryers at the mill that had begun production Monday.
Sprinklers at the mill on Marine Drive in Port Angeles ensured that the fire was contained, but could not completely extinguish the flames because the fire started between the ceiling and the roof above the sprinklers, said Josh Renshaw, president of PenPly, at about 9:45 p.m., as smoke continued to pour from the building.
“This wasn’t exactly the welcome I was hoping for,” Renshaw said.
All units from the Port Angeles Fire Department and Clallam County Fire District No. 2 responded to the fire, which started at about 8:30 p.m.
The fire was fully out by about 10:10 p.m., said Port Angeles Fire Department Chief Dan McKeen.
“The initial assessment is that there’s very little structural damage to the facility,” McKeen said.
“It won’t impact production much, if at all.”
Both Renshaw and McKeen applauded the way the mill workers — who were on duty and spotted the fire initially — and firefighters worked together.
“There is excellent cooperation between the fire department and mill workers,” McKeen said.
“That type of cooperation is essential for something like this, because it is a very large complex.”
Renshaw and his crew provided the fire department with maps of the interior, and pointed out the areas where the fire likely started, to guide the firefighters to the correct area.
Mill electricians worked with the fire department and Port Angeles city workers to isolate electrical systems in the area of the fire.
Renshaw said that, because the plywood produced hadn’t yet headed to the dryers, the fire probably wouldn’t impact the rest of the work week for the mill.
But he added that evaluation of equipment and structural damage would be done late into the night.
“I hope to be producing plywood tomorrow,” he said late Tuesday night.
Clallam County Fire District 3 covered medical calls for the other two during the fire.
The mill, formerly known as KPly, was closed in November 2007. Klukwan, an Alaskan native corporation, permanently laid off the workforce of 132 in April 2008.
Renshaw, a former sales manager at KPly, worked for two years to re-open the shuttered plant under a new name.
On the mill’s first production day, 124 employees were at work.
________
Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladailynews.com.
