Small fire at Port Townsend paper mill extinguished before fire department arrives

Published 12:01 am Thursday, September 10, 2015

PORT TOWNSEND — A small fire at the Port Townsend Paper Corp. was already extinguished by the time East Jefferson Fire-Rescue trucks arrived.

“This was more smoke than fire, so to speak,” said company spokesman Felix Vicino in an email Wednesday after Tuesday’s fire.

“No one was injured. There was minor damage to equipment and the machine was expected to be back up and running Wednesday night.”

Vicino said the department sprinklers went off when a fire started in a dryer section on Paper Machine No. 2, and the fire department was called as a precaution.

Fire department spokesman Bill Beezley said a call came in at 10:03 a.m. reporting heavy black smoke near the northernmost smokestack atop a large flat building.

A fire had broken out in dust on top of the paper machine, but the mill’s sprinkler system had extinguished it by the time engines arrived, Beezley said.

Firefighters focused their efforts on suspected hot spots and mopping up before leaving about 45 minutes later, Beezley said.

On Wednesday afternoon, Paper Machine No. 2 was still down, Vicino said.

“There was no significant damage [but] the sprinkler heads will need to be replaced,” Vicino wrote.