PORT ANGELES — More than 20 firefighters from the Port Angeles Fire Department and Clallam County Fire District No. 2 battled a blaze at the K Ply plywood processing plant Tuesday evening.
About 35 employees were at work when the smoky fire broke out, but no injuries were reported.
The fire started above a giant oven used for drying plywood during processing and spread to the roof at the 439 Marine Drive mill.
Dexter Thumm, a dryer tender, said employees noticed a fire had started inside Dryer 3 and quickly spread upward.
“It’s pretty common for them to catch from the inside,” Thumm said of the dryers, used to dry what is called green veneer.
“They don’t usually spread outside.”
Building evacuated
About six to eight employees used hoses inside the plant to battle the blaze until the building was evacuated.
Firefighters from Port Angeles worked to the extinguish the fire for more than an hour, responding with three trucks and more than a dozen firefighters.
Two trucks from neighboring Fire District No. 2 and 10 firefighters were summoned to assist.
The mill has been owned since 1989 by Klukwan Inc., an Alaskan Native corporation based in Juneau.
