SNUFFED OUT: Official Cause Expected Next Week for Blaze That Hit Onalaska Chicken Farm

Aug. 21--Smoke crept up into the air from various points on large piles of sawdust and under tin from the remains of barns destroyed in a Wednesday fire at an Onalaska chicken farm.

The remains of the chicken farm on Gore Road in Onalaska after Tuesday's fire pic.twitter.com/RUITSjahdv

-- Pete Caster (@ChronPete) August 21, 2015

Lewis County Fire District 8-Salkum Chief Duran McDaniel said people should expect to see smoke in the area as crews work to clean up the farm in the 200 block of Gore Road over the next few days.

Firefighters from Salkum and Fire District 1 in Onalaska as well as the Department of Natural Resources worked on the scene Friday.

Just after noon Friday, McDaniel said DNR had the south and east sides of the burned area "snuffed out."

A total of 12 barns and two smaller outbuildings were lost in the 110-acre blaze, along with thousands of chickens and multiple pieces of farm equipment.

McDaniel said insurance companies are working on an estimated total loss.

One of Salkum's dual use engine-tender trucks, valued at $350,000, burned in the fire. A home and a few outbuildings were saved.

Firefighters from Salkum and Onalaska were moving tin and other debris from the destroyed buildings Friday, making room to eventually spread the sawdust on the foundations to help it to stop smoldering sooner.

Crews have been monitoring hotspots around the clock since the fire was controlled around 8 p.m. Wednesday.

McDaniel said there have been no major flare-ups.

"We've had a few equipment fires that have rekindled along the way," McDaniel said.

Nearly all the fire districts in the county responded to the blaze as well as districts from Thurston and Cowlitz counties.

"It was a total county effort. ... All the fire crews did excellent work that night," McDaniel said.

Albert Kassel, wildland fire investigator with DNR, was working at the field where the fire is believed to have originated on Friday. The Lewis County Sheriff's Office reported on Thursday that the fire is believed to have been caused by a tractor with a mower. Kassel said that is one of the possible causes, but others are being investigated as well.

He said a cause will likely be released next week.

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