Fire breaks out at Spokane Waste to Energy Facility; no damage nor injuries as firefighters gain control of blaze

A fire broke out Wednesday night in a storage and processing area inside the Spokane Waste to Energy Facility, but the building’s fire suppression system and firefighters extinguished the blaze before it caused any damage to the massive facility just east of the Spokane International Airport.

“The facility did a great job of evacuating and communicating before we arrived, so we knew exactly where the fire was, exactly what the immediate dangers were and the building’s systems worked flawlessly,” Spokane Fire Chief Brian Schaeffer said.

The facility’s fire suppression system kept the fire reported shortly before 5:30 p.m. from spreading, then firefighters finished the job by extinguishing the burning trash. Schaeffer said firefighters used heavy equipment to separate the burned and unburned trash.

While the city facility is built to burn trash, the blaze was outside the areas designed for burning, Schaeffer said.

The building burns municipal solid waste to recover energy in the form of electricity, according to the city’s website.

It can handle up to 800 tons of solid waste a day and can generate 22 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 13,000 homes. The city sells the power to Avista Utilities and earns about $5 million in power sales annually.

As of about 6:15 p.m., Schaeffer said the cause of the fire was unknown and no one was injured. He estimated at that time firefighters would remain on scene separating the burned and unburned trash and eliminating hot spots for a few more hours.

He said it takes a long time to sift through the garbage, even with the help of a front-end loader and manual digging.

“It’s not easy work, especially when you’re breathing compressed air,” Schaeffer said.