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MOSES LAKE – A fire which tore through a Moses Lake business Friday, July 17, 2015, has been ruled accidental.

Grant County Deputy Fire Marshal Nathan Poplawski says employees at Inland Tarp and Cover, 4172 North Frontage Road East, accidentally ignited a fire while using a metal chop saw. Sparks from the cutting ignited nearby combustibles. Employees tried to put out the fire using extinguishers, but the fire quickly grew out of hand.

Firefighters from Grant County Fire District 5 were called around 9:40 a.m., and quickly called for help from the Moses Lake Fire Department. Five buildings were eventually engulfed, with flames driven by 15-20 mile per hour winds, and compounded by the presence of combustible PVC tarp materials and venting propane tanks on site.

Around noon, the fire caused a BLEVE — Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosion — of a large propane tank. That detonation caused a huge mushroom-shaped fireball to rise several hundred feet into the sky, and also caused a propane tank to fly over 1,000 feet east, igniting nearby haystacks. Thick smoke also caused the closure of Interstate 90 near mile post 172 for a couple of hours.

Resources from fire districts 3, 4, 5, 13, Moses Lake, Ephrata, and the Port of Moses Lake, Grant County Sheriff’s, Office, Washington State Patrol, Moses Lake Police, and Grant County PUD responded. The structure fires were finally brought under control about 3 p.m. The 11,000 tons of hay continue to burn and will for several days. The best news is that nobody was hurt.

Firefighters will remain on scene for a few more hours.