Port of Shelton cannabis producer smoked by Tuesday night blaze
A cannabis producer operated the Port of Shelton commercial building that burned down Tuesday night, according to Mason County Fire District 11.
The fire district shared an updated news release on Thursday with more information on the incident, revealing the 35,000-square-foot building was operated by M & R Distributing LLC. The company owns Rogue Raven Farms, a self-described producer of premium cannabis products located on W Enterprise Road, according to its website.
Fire Chief Brandon Searles told The Olympian crews responded to the fire alarm at 9:14 p.m. and extinguished it before midnight. However, he said crews remained on scene until Wednesday afternoon to monitor and investigate the area.
The fire did not cause any injuries and the cause is still under investigation, he said. About 70 firefighters responded to the scene including many from neighboring Mason and Thurston county fire districts.
Fire crews contained the blaze to the building of origin, a news release says, stopping it from spreading to other businesses.
The release notes a fire of this size would normally take many hours to extinguish but the large firefighter response was able to extinguish the blaze in less than 2 hours and 30 minutes.
“We were fortunate to have three ladder trucks arrive on scene quickly to assist with fire extinguishment,” the news release says. “Central Mason Fire, Olympia Fire Department and Lacey Fire all responded with their ladder trucks to assist with those efforts.”
An easily accessible water supply also helped firefighters contain the blaze relatively quickly. The Port of Shelton water system allowed responders to use hundreds of thousands of gallons of water, the release says.
The Mason County Fire Marshal’s Office is leading the investigation into the fire. Rogue Raven Farms did not respond to a request for comment.
