At approximately 1300 hours on 01/26/2005 a fire started inside a warehouse at the Wilbur-Ellis Company facility at 1303 W. Wine Country Rd. in the City of Grandview, Yakima County, Washington. The Wilbur-Ellis Company notified the National Response Center that the burning building was a 3750 sq. ft. (50 ft. x 75 ft.) heated warehouse that was storing up to 10,000 gallons of various pesticides and fertilizers. The facility is located in a mixed-zoning area of northwest Grandview along W. Wine Country Rd., which bounds the site on the west side. There are several single-family residences immediately adjacent to the site on the south and east sides along N. Viall Rd. and N. Euclid St., respectively. The property is bounded on the north side by a small intermittent stream that feeds a watershed, which drains into the Yakima River about 10 miles southeast of the property. On the north side of this drainage, there is an unused pasture between the facility and Interstate 82, which is approximately 0.5 miles from the facility.
The initial responders on-scene following the 9-1-1 call were the Grandview Fire and Police Departments. Shortly after arriving on-scene the smoke was deemed potentially hazardous to emergency personnel and the adjacent community. The incident commander (IC) at the City of Grandview EOC ordered an evacuation of the area up to 0.5 miles from the facility, which included closing I-82 and rerouting traffic around Grandview to the north. The IC also issued a shelter-in-place order for the areas outside the evacuation zone and up to 1.0 mile from the site. Additionally, the Grandview School District Superintendent declared schools cancelled until further notice as a precaution. EPA was asked to respond to assist local and state response agencies and the community. OSCs Mike Sibley and Jeff Rodin mobilized to the incident, along with PIO Mark MacIntyre and the EPA's Superfund Technical Assessment and Response Team (START-2). For questions about this incident, please call the EPA Region 10 Response Center at 206-553-1263.
