Distillery fire in Washington State

Anything about distilling ya read in news.

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Deplorable
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Re: Distillery fire in Washington State

Post by Deplorable »

My wife was just telling me about that. I think she made a point to come out here as I'm running the still to tell me. LOL.
Damn shame. Wonder what the cause was.
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Re: Distillery fire in Washington State

Post by nerdybrewer »

Oh no, my home away from home.
I've been in there of course, bought their products (wine).
Hope they can rebuild, if I get any info about cause I'll share.
Cranky's spoonfeeding:
http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=52975

Time and Oak will sort it out.
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Re: Distillery fire in Washington State

Post by shadylane »

Thank God no body got hurt.
But the Irish in me want's to cry at the thought of a distillery fire. :oops:
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Re: Distillery fire in Washington State

Post by Bushman »

Details to come out later but it happened at night and neighbors saw the fire and tried to put it out so I am guessing the still was unattended.
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Re: Distillery fire in Washington State

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I'll put my money on an electrical fire. Glad nobody was hurt.
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Re: Distillery fire in Washington State

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Bushman wrote: Sun May 16, 2021 7:11 pm Details to come out later but it happened at night and neighbors saw the fire and tried to put it out so I am guessing the still was unattended.
Was definitely unattended.
Claim they were only distilling water.
Ermmm,,,,, okay that sounds believable.
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Re: Distillery fire in Washington State

Post by LWTCS »

Still looks like it's from one of those outfits that promote a divorced, multiple side columns arrangement.

Multiple side columns slow as dirt if you want to hold proof.
Bet they had to run slow to hold proof and walked away thinking they could just go to bed as an 18 or 20 hour run is not at all uncommon.

Distilling water my eye........
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Re: Distillery fire in Washington State

Post by Bushman »

Their main business is there winery that was across the street. I agree with you LWTCS if the neighbors saw it first and tried to put out the fire it must of been unattended. The main reason for posting articles like this is to remind our members not to get complacent and to tend to their stills.
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Re: Distillery fire in Washington State

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Quoted from todays update:
Assistant Fire Chief Daryl Brown said that the cause of the incident is under investigation, noting that the family said they thought it may have started with some overheating equipment in their distillery process.
If you have equipment known for overheating issues, why would you leave it unattended and connected to a power source?
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Re: Distillery fire in Washington State

Post by StillerBoy »

Deplorable wrote: Mon May 17, 2021 4:49 pm If you have equipment known for overheating issues, why would you leave it unattended and connected to a power source?
Easy.. Incompetent amateurs.. which is usually why and how accident happen..

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Re: Distillery fire in Washington State

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Distillers here reminds me of professional pilots.
Both want to dissect every accident for useable safety information. :thumbup:
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Re: Distillery fire in Washington State

Post by acfixer69 »

Deplorable wrote: Mon May 17, 2021 4:49 pm Quoted from todays update:
Assistant Fire Chief Daryl Brown said that the cause of the incident is under investigation, noting that the family said they thought it may have started with some overheating equipment in their distillery process.
If you have equipment known for overheating issues, why would you leave it unattended and connected to a power source?
Maybe during the pandemic the income is down and the insurance is still payed up.
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Re: Distillery fire in Washington State

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https://www.thedailyworld.com/business/ ... ry-nov-29/

to many views triggers a subscription solicitation.
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Re: Distillery fire in Washington State

Post by LWTCS »

Yep. A pair of 10 plate side columns. Slow as dirt.
They walked away from running the equipment out of boredom/fatigue. Silly amateurs.

Glad no one was hurt.
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Re: Distillery fire in Washington State

Post by Birrofilo »

The "distillery", from the image appearing in the link two posts above mine, appears to be made with a simple and naked wood frame.

I don't know what might have caused a fire, but any problem which might have occurred, if resulting in a fire, might have easily and rapidly destroyed that "factory" to the ground, regardless of the operation being a distillery or any other endeavour. It looks like a Japanese traditional house. Those things burn fast.

Stuff happens. I am surprised that in early XXI century there still are fires in industrial setups, but that's it, there still are, in general, not in distilleries only.

The question I would ask is why is a distillery allowed to operate in a shed which is not brick-and-mortar, or in fact why any industrial operation is allowed to operate in a wooden-frame shed. Bricks are in common use since Babylon. Stones are in use since much earlier. Armed concrete is also reasonably costly. Wood is a very nice building material but not for those kinds of applications.

I have never seen a wooden shed for an industrial setup in Italy and frankly I suspect this is simply not allowed by fire regulations. Besides, I have never heard of a distillery fire in Italy, and there are a few thousands which are legal, and many tenths of thousands which are illegal (home distilleries). One has to mitigate risks from the beginning of the project.
Last edited by Birrofilo on Tue May 18, 2021 7:01 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Distillery fire in Washington State

Post by Deplorable »

What a shame to lose all that aging whiskey and tequila. I wonder what's going through the minds of the insurance investigators.
And why did the fire marshall allow that operation without a fire suppression system?
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Re: Distillery fire in Washington State

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Probably because the ag location has more laxed restrictions for fire & zoning.
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Re: Distillery fire in Washington State

Post by Bushman »

Currently at the ocean and will be heading home on Thursday, the distillery is about 45 minutes out of my way so I may swing by and check it out.
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