Fire and ammonia scare force mile-wide evacuations at Oregon coast seafood plant

A large fire broke out Sunday morning at a Pacific Seafood processing complex on the Bayfront in Newport, Oregon, sending a plume of acrid, ammonia-tinged smoke over the coastal city and prompting authorities to order evacuations within a mile of the plant. No injuries among plant workers or residents had been reported by Sunday evening, though one firefighter was taken to a hospital for exhaustion.

The first alarm came in shortly before 9 a.m., according to the Newport Fire Department, whose chief, Rob Murphy, confirmed that ammonia was present in the smoke but said he could not immediately say how much. Lincoln County emergency officials issued Level 2 and Level 3 "go now" evacuation notices covering homes and businesses on and around the Bayfront, a cluster of fish markets, canneries and tourist shops that has anchored Newport's working waterfront for more than a century.

What happened

Roughly 30 to 40 employees were inside the plant when the fire started; Pacific Seafood said all of them were safely accounted for. The blaze destroyed the facility's freezer and ice-making operations and caused a partial roof collapse, according to local reporting. By midday, firefighters had knocked down the worst of the flames but warned the operation was far from over.

"It's going to be a long operation," Fire Chief Rob Murphy told reporters at the scene.

The central worry for responders was not the fire itself but two large anhydrous ammonia tanks used in the plant's refrigeration system. Ammonia is toxic at high concentrations and can form a lethal gas cloud if a pressurized tank ruptures in a fire. The Oregon State Fire Marshal's office mobilized one of its regional hazardous-materials response teams, which backs up local fire departments on incidents beyond their equipment or training, along with a state hazmat coordinator.

State Fire Marshal Mariana Ruiz-Temple said crews were focused on keeping flames away from the tanks. "The concern would be that if that does occur over the tank itself or near the tank," she said, adding that more personnel were being sent to Newport overnight. Gov. Tina Kotek said in a statement that her office was "closely monitoring the fire at Pacific Seafood in Newport."

Numbers and scope

By midmorning, close to 40 firefighters from departments across Lincoln County, plus crews from Corvallis and Depoe Bay, were on scene. Officials said additional reinforcements, including a strike team from Lane County and a task force from Marion County with engines and a ladder truck, were being sent to relieve crews through the night. Police shut down entrances to the Bayfront, and the city's evacuation map showed the initial "go now" zone stretching roughly a mile from the plant.

That radius swept in all Port of Newport facilities, an RV park and a marina on the south side of Yaquina Bay, as well as the Hatfield Marine Science Center, which closed for the day. Many nearby businesses, some north of the Bayfront along U.S. Highway 101, also shut down. By late afternoon, officials had shrunk the mandatory zone to a few blocks immediately north of the plant, though residents elsewhere in the city were told to shelter in place and keep windows closed. City spokesman John Fuller characterized the broader guidance as precautionary: "It is not a mandatory evacuation, but we do recommend it."

Samaritan Pacific Communities Hospital, which sits near the edge of the evacuation zone, opted not to evacuate patients, citing favorable wind direction and its own risk assessment; the hospital said it continued operating normally through the day. An evacuation shelter first set up at Sam Case Elementary School was later moved to Atonement Lutheran Church on U.S. 101, where 25 to 30 evacuees and their pets had gathered by evening.

Who's affected

Newport, the seat of Lincoln County with a population of roughly 10,300, depends heavily on its working waterfront. A 2021 industry study found the port's commercial fishing fleet landed catch worth about $59 million in a single year — the highest ex-vessel value of any port in Oregon — and that commercial and recreational fishing together generate roughly $174 million a year for the local economy, about 16 percent of the region's total earnings. Pacific Seafood, based in Clackamas, Oregon, describes itself as one of the largest seafood companies in North America, with more than 3,000 employees across 41 facilities in 11 states; the company has operated multiple processing plants on Newport's Bayfront for decades.

• Fire reported shortly before 9 a.m. Sunday at a Pacific Seafood complex on Newport's Bayfront
• Evacuations ordered within roughly one mile, later narrowed to a few blocks
• No civilian injuries reported; one firefighter hospitalized for exhaustion
• Response includes nearly 40 local firefighters plus state hazmat teams guarding two ammonia tanks

Reaction and what's next

Pacific Seafood vice president Ashton Meier said the company was still absorbing the scale of the damage. "Pacific Seafood is devastated by today's fire in Newport," Meier said, adding that the company would work with fire investigators and state officials to determine what happened and assess the hazards left behind. Chief Murphy said a formal cause investigation could not begin until the fire was fully extinguished and engineers confirmed the structure was safe to enter. "The fire investigation part will be conducted after we've been able to put the fire out," he said.

As of Sunday evening, firefighters had not confirmed whether either ammonia tank had been breached, though officials said crews had significantly reduced the risk of flames reaching them. The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality is expected to oversee any cleanup once the fire is out, a role the agency routinely takes on after industrial hazmat incidents. Lincoln County officials said updates on evacuation status would continue to be pushed through the county's emergency alert system overnight and into Monday, and that reinforcement crews would keep arriving to relieve firefighters who had been on scene since morning.

For a city whose identity and economy are tied closely to its waterfront, the extent of the damage to one of its largest employers was still being tallied Sunday night, with officials cautioning that full access to the site — and any accounting of jobs or production lost — would have to wait until the building was declared safe.