Fire, heavy smoke force evacuation at former Boise Paper plant near Tri-Cities

A smoky fire in the ventilation system of a Wallula paper mill forced the building to be evacuated for several hours this weekend.

Smoke started to fill a building at the Packaging Corporation of America’s paper plant shortly before 3 p.m. Sunday, triggering the plant’s fire suppression systems.

The former Boise Paper plant is off Highway 12 south of Burbank and manufactures corrugated boxes and packaging, mostly for produce, processed food and beverages.

The plant also employs its own firefighters who responded.

The volume of smoke was too much for the plant firefighters who backed out of the building and called for backup, said fire Capt. Justin Lessard with Walla Walla County Fire District 5.

Since there was a large amount of smoke, Lessard asked for some additional help, making it a two-alarm fire incident.

The suppression system doused much of the flames, and firefighters found the smoldering remains inside of the wall. They also checked the roof to make sure the fire hadn’t spread.

In all, the fire burned a 10-foot by 10-foot area, he said.

The cause is not certain, but it appears the fire started with a ventilation fan.

No one was hurt by the smoke or flames.