A massive weekend three-alarm blaze at a former Everett recycling facility broke out when an employee who was supposed to stand fire watch duty at the facility temporarily abandoned his post and left the building, fire officials said.
"With the building under a fire watch, someone must be on site around-the-clock watching for potential fires," said Everett Fire Marshal Eric Hicks. "Unfortunately, the person on fire-watch duty temporarily left the building on Saturday night, and it appears that that's when the fire broke out."
Firefighters continued to monitor the site of the huge Saturday night fire for potential flare-ups as investigators worked to determine the cause of the blaze.
"There are some areas still smoldering, so we are closely monitoring the entire site," said Hicks.
Hicks said firefighters had been out to the site twice last week to respond to small fires. That's when fire officials discovered large piles of wood-derived products being stored inside the building, which previously housed a recycling business.
Hicks said the materials were self-heating, which made them a fire hazard, so the business owner was notified that they needed to come up with a plan to move the materials out of the building.