Explosive ethanol fire guts business, vehicles in Cornelius

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — A large ethanol fire destroyed multiple buildings and vehicles Tuesday afternoon in Cornelius, firefighters said.

Officials told KOIN 6 News shortly after 7 p.m. the ethanol was no longer burning after crews sprayed it with a dry chemical known as “Purple K.” However, some buildings were still burning and officials said they expected them to continue to smolder overnight. Firefighters will continue to monitor the situation.

Firefighters said the fire was reported at 1:30 p.m. in the 500 block of N 4th Avenue where Thunderbolt Racing Fuel and Summit Foods are located. Crews arrived within minutes and found heavy smoke and flames coming from an area where ethanol racing fuel is processed and stored. Backup was called and firefighters started to work on extinguishing the flames but multiple explosions and “erratic fire conditions” led authorities to pull their teams back to a safe distance, Forest Grove Fire & Rescue said.

Officials then began evacuating roughly 80 homes and businesses, including a Walmart. Residents in surrounding areas were told to shelter in place and close their doors and windows to keep out falling debris.

Ethanol fires are particularly hard to put out so a hazmat team and a special truck from Portland International Airport were called in to help. The truck was used to spray the Purple K extinguishing agent on the ethanol fire.

“This is high-burning ethanol, it’s meant for race cars,” said Matt Johnston with Forest Grove Fire. “So the ethanol level is pretty high, it’s higher than gasoline so it’s pretty dangerous stuff.”

There were a handful of employees on the property when the fire started but no one was hurt.

At least one warehouse was destroyed, along with an office, delivery trucks and personal vehicles, authorities said.

Residents were given the green light to return home around 7:30 p.m. after all roads were reopened. Some residents were warned they could be temporarily without natural gas because it was turned off to the area.

Officials have not released any information about the potential cause of the fire.

Rosemarie Russell lives across the street from the facility. She told KOIN 6 it sounded like a car hit her house when the fire started.

“And then another explosion happened and then the fire department came and was knocking on everybody’s door telling them they had one minute to get out. So I had to get all my dogs and leave. It was very scary,” she said.