Huge Tri-Cities warehouse fire cost taxpayers +$1M. WA laws need to change, say officials

After one of the largest structure fires in the Northwest burned for almost two months this spring in the Tri-Cities, federal, state and local officials are considering what could have been done differently and what still needs to be done.

The lessons learned from the Lineage cold storage warehouse fire in Finley could help not only in the Mid-Columbia region where increasingly massive industrial buildings are being built, but also in other areas in Washington and nearby states, they said after the recent meeting organized by the Benton Franklin Health District.

One thing that caught officials off guard were the limitations on help for building fires. Some Washington laws limit state help specifically for wildfires that are more likely to burn for days, weeks or months.

Finley residents “inundated with smoke not for one or two or three days. This was weeks. This was two months,” said Sen. Perry Dozier, R-Walla Walla, who represents the area where the fire burned.

If the smoke had been from a wildfire, residents would have been eligible for more help to relocate temporarily, Dozier said. But the Washington law specifically designates help for smoky conditions from wildlfires, he explained.

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