GRANDVIEW — A spectacular fire that destroyed a potato warehouse and processing plant has left 150 people without jobs and will cost this lower Yakima Valley town much of its tax revenue.
A short in an electrical panel sparked the blaze Tuesday morning at Wild River Foods, which makes french fries, firefighters said. There were no injuries, except to residents’ livelihoods and municipal coffers.
“When I look over there, I see people who lost jobs and revenue that is lost to the city to pay for basic services,” City Supervisor Scott Staples said.
Wild River Foods contributed $70,000 in local utility taxes and about 10 percent of revenues for the water and sewer fund in Grandview, a town of 8,300 about 40 miles south of Yakima. The town also is home to other processing plants for produce grown in the fertile valley.
Staples said the town council will consider cuts because of the fire. He noted that the loss of utility taxes follows the failure of a ballot measure in May that would have boosted the tax rate to 7.5 percent from 6 percent to maintain existing services.
The plant, owned by OB-2 LLC, of Boise, Idaho, was valued at $1.32 million, according to the Yakima County assessor’s Web site.
Ob-2 managers would not comment at the scene.
Among those devastated by the fire was Rosa Chavez of Grandview, who worked there for a year.
“We were earning good money,” Chavez said in Spanish, “and now, where are we going to find a job?”
Area businesses closed for the day because of the heavy smoke and strong smell of ammonia that was released as the building burned to the ground. A major source of the smoke was two vats of peanut oil used for processing potatoes, officials said.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
