FORKS – Hot spots were still flaring up Saturday afternoon after a fire destroyed the Department of Social and Health Services building Friday morning.
No one was injured in the blaze.
“It’s been smoldering all day,” said Phil Arbeiter, Clallam County Fire District No. 1 chief.
A crew of 20 firefighters with six fire trucks fought the blaze after it broke out at about 8 a.m. Friday in the building at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Bogachiel Way in Forks.
The building also houses the state Child Protective Services offices.
It took firefighters all day Friday to quell the blaze, Arbeiter said.
DSHS spokesman Steve Williams said on Saturday that the two agencies will be operating come Monday morning at the city-owned ICN building at 71 N. Spartan Ave. at Clawah Way.
Signs and people will be posted near the burned-out building to direct members of the public to the new offices, Williams added.
“If they go to either location, they’re going to get help,” he said.
Over the weekend, calls to DSHS and to Child Protective Services were routed to the service center in Seattle.
So “no calls [for service] are being disrupted,” Williams said.
By Monday, people will be able to reach the new location directly, he added.
Forks Mayor Nedra Reed said the city will rent space to the state agencies as long as it’s needed.
“We’ve scrounged up a bit of furniture to tide them over,” she said, adding that 12 staffers will move to the new location.
“We are committed to them getting back and running because we know those services are so necessary, especially at the holidays.”
