A fire at the Port Townsend Paper Company left production crippled Saturday as a conveyer that spanned six stories was engulfed in flames.

Black smoke rising from the paper mill was reported at 2:40 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 22.

“That right away told us there might be a fire,” Black said. 

Normally, he explained, the plumes are a light gray and caused by steam.

“The mill called pretty quickly after, confirming they had a fire,” East Jefferson Fire Rescue Chief Bret Black said early this week.

“We launched right away,” Black said.

No one was hurt in the fire, and the cause is still under investigation.

A damage estimate was not immediately available.

As soon as the EJFR incident commander was on location, they made the decision to request mutual aid, a common practice for larger incidents.

“We got phenomenal support from our local partners,” Black said. Port Ludlow Fire & Rescue provided two crews, Discovery Bay Volunteer Fire & Rescue showed up, and Clallam and Kitsap counties sent crews, as well.

The Quilcene Fire Department brought its engine to Station 11 in Chimacum to use as a backup in case any other area fire calls came in.

Black said all of East Jefferson’s chief officers and a fire battalion chief on duty responded to the blaze.

“I’m going to have to give a very rough estimate,” the chief said regarding boots on the ground, but he summarized at least 30 people were on-site.

Extinguishing the fire was an arduous task, Black said.

“It was a significant fire in the conveyor belt assembly,” he said.

According to Black, the conveyor feeds from ground level to six floors up, making it a physical challenge to navigate. It was take the stairs, or use a utility elevator.

In order to monitor firefighters for stress and exhaustion, a volunteer-run rehab area was set up at the mill.

“It took a lot of work,” Black said.

The incident was considered over at 5 p.m.

Several thousand gallons of water were used to fight the fire, and the chief said mill employees may have used further hosing (using the mill’s own hose system) to put out any hot spots afterward.

“We have a pretty good relationship with the mill,” Black said. “We work pretty closely with their safety team.”

The mill and EJFR even have shared radios.

“It’s a team approach,” Black said.

In a statement emailed to The Leader on Monday, Nicholas “Nick” Nachbar, general manager of Port Townsend Paper Company, wrote: “While the cause of the fire is still under investigation, our on-site first responders and local fire responders did an outstanding job in minimizing its spread, and most importantly, no one was injured during the event.

“While some of our equipment was impacted, we are still operating and are working to return to full capacity as soon as possible,” Nachbar said.

The blaze drew much public attention, from Port Townsend and beyond.

“I’m so thankful for East Jefferson Fire Rescue, and all of our partnering fire departments, for helping get that fire out quickly,” Jefferson County Commissioner Heidi Eisenhour told her fellow commissioners at their board meeting Monday.

“It could have been much worse,” she added, and could have impacted hundreds of lives and families in the community.