MOSES LAKE, Wash. — Grant County and Moses Lake firefighters worked for hours on Tuesday night to contain a big fire at Basic American Foods in Moses Lake, a food processing plant located south of I-90 off Highway 17.
The fire was reported at approximately 8 p.m. on Tuesday, according to the Grant County Sheriff's Office (GCSO). Fire District 5 responded to the fire and could reportedly see it while they were driving.
The plant was in operation and had people inside when the fire started. All employees were evacuated and no injuries have been reported, according to Grant County Fire.
GCSO said the fire was in the upper stories of the facility and the third floor sustained the most damage.
Photos from Moses Lake Firefighters show flames burning through a large section of the food processing plant. Fire District 5 said the building suffered extensive damage from both fire and water.
Trent Cleverly and his wife returned home Tuesday night to see the plant engulfed in flames. The couple lives just a quarter mile from the plant.
“The whole top of that place was the roofline and along the wall of it was, just flames were just coming off of it," he said.
Cleverly said he heard a loud thump early Tuesday evening but didn't expect to see the fire burning right in his backyard.
"I was hearing the fire trucks. And I was like, 'What's going on?' type thing," he recalled. "Because to me it sounded like it was coming down our lane. And as I walked around the backside of the house, that's when I see American completely up in flames. And anyway, I was just shocked by that.”
The Grant County Fire Marshals' office is working to investigate the cause of the fire. It is not known if operations continued on Wednesday, but people were seen coming in and out of the plant.
This is a developing news story. KREM 2 News will update this article as we learn more information.
DOWNLOAD THE KREM SMARTPHONE APP
DOWNLOAD FOR IPHONE HERE | DOWNLOAD FOR ANDROID HERE
HOW TO ADD THE KREM+ APP TO YOUR STREAMING DEVICE
ROKU: add the channel from the ROKU store or by searching for KREM in the Channel Store.
Fire TV: search for "KREM" to find the free app to add to your account. Another option for Fire TV is to have the app delivered directly to your Fire TV through Amazon.
To report a typo or grammatical error, please email webspokane@krem.com.