A warehouse in Longview went up in flames on Monday afternoon, leaving only charred remnants behind. The Longview Fire Department responded to a large warehouse fire near Industrial Way and Douglas Street at around 4 p.m. on Monday. Firefighters arrived and attacked the fire from outside the building, which was reportedly engulfed in flames. The Longview Police Department and Washington Department of Natural Resources assisted with patrolling the area to check for new fires that mat have spread from the warehouse, but have not found any as of 5:30 p.m.
One employee at a nearby warehouse caught the fire on video, and told FOX 12 he and his coworkers are prepared for situations like these. โWe are a paper and packaging mill so we have protocols in place for situations such as this,โ said Jon Hutton, a loader at the North Pacific Paper Corporation warehouse in Longview. โWe had employees on the roof with hoses and several workers with fire extinguishers. The old building went up in flames within minutes. Debris started falling into our parking lot where the employees parked. We all rushed to our vehicles and moved them down the mill site.โ
Hutton said he could feel the intensity of the flames from the parking lot while he was filming. โI was able to capture several videos of the fire and surrounding area and it was nothing like Iโve ever experienced before,โ Hutton said. โYou see videos of fires like these on the news or social media but you never consider the intensity of the heat and wild they really are. My phone over heated multiple times while filming. At one point I had to sprint to a covered area because our parking lot was so hot.โ
Fire officials say no one was injured as a result of the fire, and all warehouse workers are accounted for. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
