An early morning warehouse fire sent thick billows of black smoke and basketball-sized pieces of ash and debris throughout Tonasket on Nov. 26.
Shortly after 7 a.m., Tonasket firefighters responded to a report of a fire in the former Chief Tonasket apple shed warehouse at 30 Longanecker Road, east of the Tonasket Rodeo Grounds.
“First arriving units reported a fire in one of the bays of the south warehouse,” a statement from the Tonasket Fire Department said. “The fire had already spread up into the attic, which was impossible to access.”
Additional resources were called in from Omak and Oroville fire departments to assist in containing the blaze.
The flames proceeded to burn through that south warehouse and spread across a catwalk to the adjoining northern warehouse.