‘It’s just a miracle’: Fisherman come together after Ilwaco Landing seafood facility fire

ILWACO, Wash. — Dozens of crab fishermen are recovering after a massive fire ripped through the Ilwaco Landing seafood facility on Monday. But we’re hearing stories of hope that could preserve the season for many of the crabbers that were impacted.

Thousands of crab pots were lost to the flames, only days before the start of crab season.

The facility is in Southwest Washington, near the Oregon Coast.

The President of the Columbia River Crab Fishermans Association, Dale Beasely, spoke to KIRO 7 on Tuesday.

He said a small miracle occurred.

“There’s a lot of fishermen that have 100 pots sitting on the dock that have been more than generous to allow other fishermen to borrow them for the season,” Beasely said. “They’ve got enough gear coming to get the boats in the ocean. It’s just a miracle that this was put together so quickly.”

Beasely guesses that roughly 4,000 crab pots may have been destroyed.

But other crab fishermen loaning theirs out is something he didn’t expect.

“They’re not giving them the pots they expect to get them back but they’re loaning them for the season,” he said.

Beasley said commercial crab fishermen could be charged $400 per pot to buy them new. At that price, the total amount to replace the pots with brand-new ones would be $1,600,000.

He also said that crab pots are not insurable so the cost will come out of crab fishermen’s pocket. He said crab from that facility and the region does find its way to Seattle and many other locales.

While he couldn’t guess at the impact on the market, he did have one suggestion on how the public could help.

“They can help by buying a lot of crab!” Beasely said laughing.

The Chinook observer described the fire as the most intense industrial fire in a generation for Pacific County.

The Ilwacao Fire Department said the remote nature of the area, where the fire erupted, limited the water supply firefighters could use.

The job for them was even tougher due to the crab pots surrounding the building.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

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