REGION
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2022
THE OBSERVER — A3
Firefi ghters in Hermiston quell blaze of the decade
Boiler explodes,
sends seven to
Hermiston hospital
By ERICK PETERSON,
ANDREW CUTLER,
BEN LONERGAN, ANTONIO
SIERRA and PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
HERMISTON —
Dozens of fi refi ghters from
multiple agencies worked
Tuesday afternoon, Feb.
22, to quell a fi erce blaze
at Shearer’s Foods off
Highway 207 in Hermiston.
Employees of Shear-
er’s Foods called 911 at
12:51 p.m., Tuesday, Feb.
22, according to the Uma-
tilla County Sheriff ’s
Offi ce, and reported a boiler
explosion with possible
injuries. Umatilla County
Fire District No. 1, Herm-
iston, was the fi rst fi re
department on the scene.
“This was a big fi re for
us,” Fire District No. 1
Chief Scott Stanton said.
“Probably haven’t had a fi re
this size in the last decade.”
A total of 60 fi refi ghters
from Fire District No. 1
and eight other agencies
responded.
The blaze destroyed a
warehouse and whatever
was inside, Stanton said,
but crews were able to keep
the fi re from spreading.
Having enough water
was the primary challenge,
he explained. The site had
one fi re hydrant, and the
water tenders at the scene
ran low.
“We had too much fi re
load and not enough water
tenders to take care of that
like we should,” he said.
But given the size of this
fi re, he added, maybe even
30 water tenders would not
have been enough.
And there always is the
issue of response times in
Eastern Oregon given the
distances between commu-
nities. Still, fi refi ghters sub-
dued the blaze in a matter
of hours.
Smoke from the fi re also
presented problems.
“We had to evacuate
a hotel and some houses
downwind,” he said.
Stanton also said the
hazmat team from Gresham
was coming over to monitor
water runoff .
Erick Peterson/East Oregonian
Forklift operator Nick Perez walks away from Shearer’s Foods, Hermiston, following an explosion and fi re Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2022.
ural gas portable boiler.
The sheriff ’s offi ce urged
the public to avoid the area.
Hermiston City Manager
Byron Smith said the fi re
at the company could have
a signifi cant impact on the
community.
“There are a lot of
people who work there,” he
said. “It will be a big chal-
lenge for us.”
Hermiston Mayor Dave
Drotzmann called the
explosion and resulting fi re
tragic for the company
, MBA and
the Hermiston community.
“We hope for the
employees that have been
injured a speedy recovery,”
he said. “For the families
that are aff ected, Herm-
iston will work with our
partners at the county, state
and federal levels to bring
resources as soon as pos-
sible to support them as
they work through this
tragedy.”
Not the fi rst
emergency at Shearer’s
The Ohio-based Shear-
er’s Foods bought snack
food manufacturer Snack
Alliance in 2010 and took
over its Highway 207
facility.
After securing a tax
break from the city of
Hermiston’s enterprise
zone, Shearer’s made sev-
eral expansions to its
facility from 2010 to 2014,
developments valued at
more than $30 million.
Shearer’s did not immedi-
ately return questions about
the size of its presence in
Hermiston, but a Shear-
er’s manager told the East
Oregonian in 2013 that the
plant employed 325 people.
In 2014, the potato pro-
cessor announced it was
hiring an additional 114
employees.
This is not the first
major emergency at Shear-
er’s. In late September,
Umatilla County Fire Dis-
trict No. 1 dispatched a
hazardous materials team
and other emergency
responders to a chemical
leak at the Shearer’s plant.
Three people were trans-
ported to Good Shepherd
while another two refused
transport. Once author-
ities were able to iden-
tify the source of the leak
and stop it, Shearer’s was
allowed to reopen the fol-
lowing day.
Nickolas Oatley/Umatilla County Fire District 1
Witnesses share their
experiences
As the fi re raged, a line
of cars exited Feedville
Road. Authorities ush-
ered the cars away from
Shearer’s Foods and the
source of the smoke. Then,
they blocked the road to
anyone wanting to enter.
Some Shearer’s employees,
though, left by foot to meet
nearby friends and loved
ones for rides.
Nick Perez, forklift
operator, was one of the
walkers. As he left to meet
a friend, he spoke of the
incident that engulfed his
workplace in fi re.
He said he was in a dif-
ferent part of the building
from the explosion.
“It felt like a hurricane or
a tornado came throughout
the whole warehouse,” he
said. “It blew dust every-
where. I saw the roof col-
lapse. There was a bunch of
fi re. That’s when everyone
evacuated.”
When he left the
building, he could not
retrieve his car keys, which
is why he said he was
meeting a friend, Cory
Harris, to give him a lift.
Harris, a warehouse
worker at Shearer’s, said he
had the day off of work and
was glad for that. He had
seen fi res there before, he
said, but nothing like this.
He expressed concern for
the people who were there
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A fi refi ghter with the Umatilla County Fire District 1 battles the blaze
at Shearer’s Foods, Hermiston, on Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2022.
wand worry about what this
meant for his employment.
Art Moreno was on the
side of the road and said he
was waiting on his wife,
Jonnie Moreno, who was on
her way.
When she arrived, he
met her with a hug and a
tarp to warm her.
“I’m all right. I’m all
right,” she said to her hus-
band. Then she shared a
few words about her ordeal.
“Most of the girls were
terrifi ed,” she said.
As for herself, she said
she was not frightened but
worried for other workers.
Some of her co-workers,
she said, were aff ected by
smoke and minor injuries.
Local agencies address
the emergency
Caitlin Cozad, commu-
nications director for Good
Shepherd Medical Center,
Hermiston, said the hos-
pital received seven patients
from Shearer’s Foods. All
were in stable to fair con-
dition, she reported, and
“none are critical or serious
at this time.”
Union Pacifi c Railroad
was notifi ed to close down
traffi c on the nearby rail
line. The Oregon Depart-
ment of Transportation
closed Highway 207 south
of Hermiston between
Feedville Road and the
Space Age truck stop near
Interstate 84 Exit 182 due to
the emergency.
Umatilla County Fire
District No. 1 is the pri-
mary fi re agency for the
fi re and has set up a com-
mand post, according to a
press release from the sher-
iff ’s offi ce. The fi re dis-
trict also requested mutual
aid from surrounding fi re
agencies. The initial infor-
mation is the cause of the
explosion and fi re is a nat-
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