Seattle-Snohomish Mill building not insured when fire hit

SNOHOMISH — The burned building at the former Seattle-Snohomish Mill did not carry insurance, two sources confirmed.
It will likely take the county fire marshal’s office time to deconstruct what caused the fire early Wednesday, Aug. 28.
Used mattresses stored under a space lease arrangement made the fire intensely hot. So hot that firefighters couldn’t get close to it.
The mattresses were stored inside the former mill’s lumber processing building, which faces the river. Other buildings at the site weren’t damaged.
“The building contents had some coverage, but the building itself did not,” a spokesman for the mill owners, Josh Estes, said. Snohomish Fire Chief Ron Simmons relayed the same information in a public meeting earlier this month.
Estes wrote that to suggest the fire was set deliberately is “absurd.”
The mill owners, the Waltz family, is trying to get the 33 acre site open for more types of development. The site is still for sale and “still entertaining buyers,” Estes said.
The mill’s ownership “has been actively working with both the city and the county to ensure that this property can have a future that reflects the values of the community and the history of the area for many years to come. So, it is absurd that anyone would think otherwise,” Estes wrote in a response to a question on insurance fraud rumors.
The owners “care deeply about the city of Snohomish and the surrounding communities that they were actively involved in for decades,” Estes said by written statement.
The Seattle-Snohomish Mill closed in 2015 because of market saturation in the timber industry. The market situation shuttered other mills, too.
Estes confirmed that all the old mill equipment inside was removed or dismantled long ago.
The mattress arrangement is on hold and may be done for good.
There’s still space for other tenants to lease parts of the 33 acres of land.
The parking lot recently became filled with a Ford dealer’s overstock.
Mike Bickford confirmed the cars aren’t from Bickford Ford of Snohomish.
The affected building is structurally unsound, Simmons said as part of a report to the City Council.
Fire crews got to the two-alarm fire within seven minutes, but found the building already ablaze, Simmons said. A 911 call came in around 12:45 a.m. It was brought under control in two hours. Crews worked defensively.
Estes, the mill owner’s spokesman, indicated in an interview that it’s pre-emptive to say what happens next with the charred building. However, when asked if a hulk would be left, he countered and emphasized that “the family is deeply committed to the community.”
He added in a statement: “Once we’ve received the results of the investigation from the Fire Marshal, we will have a better picture of what the next steps will look like.”
Seven firefighting agencies as far away as South County Fire responded that night.