On Wednesday August 4th around 3:20pm a squirrel tried to burn down the cannery. I was in the office by myself when the power bumped off and then back on. I didn't realize what was happening but a squirrel had shorted out the power line that runs north to south across the cannery property. When the squirrel shorted out the power sparks fell from a power pole 200 yards north of the cannery and from a pole 6 feet south of the cannery office. I was surrounded by flames and didn't realize it until our UPS driver pulled up a couple of minutes later. The driver was on the phone with 911 and yelling for my attention. He pointed out the fire on both sides of the cannery property and when I saw the flames my first thought was that it was too late. Flames behind the office and lunch room, a small building separate from the cannery, were burning against the building and spreading into taller grass and a few trees. I ran for a water hose and by stringing hoses together I was able to reach the flames behind the office. The UPS driver and I worked together to successfully put that fire out. I immediately started moving my hose down to fight the fire coming from the North heading for the cannery building. By the time I had the hose shifted over to the second fire the fire department crew had shown up. At the peak of the fire there were about 20 firefighters on the scene. The fire was burning alongside the lower warehouse and was pushing up the hill into the orchard. It looks as if it has killed a handful of cherry trees on the edge of the orchard.

Fire damage on the north side of the cannery

Fire on the south side of the cannery office

That north fire burned 3 older shaker machines we used for parts and a pile of fir flooring from the Moscow, Idaho bean elevator that was torn down in 2007. We were definitely blessed that there was not more damage. The fire crews did a great job of stopping the fire and ensuring that it was completely out before they left. I was grateful they responded so quickly and worked so hard to contain and put out the fire. We learned a few lessons about what could be improved to lower our risk from a fire and how to better fight possible future fires.

In the end the squirrel did not succeed but he did give his life in the effort. When we called the owner of the power line to see if they would compensate us for the destroyed machinery and burned flooring we were told: "It wasn't a problem with our equipment, it was the squirrel". I don't know if the squirrel would have felt he was thrown under the bus or maybe that was just what he was going for.

More extreme heat in the 100's is coming our way this week so we are being extra diligent and on the look-out for possible situations.