The massive fire at a Pacific Seafood freezer facility in Newport has raised concerns about how the loss of cold storage could affect one of Lincoln County’s largest employers and the local fishing industry.
The fire severely damaged an 11,000-square-foot building used to freeze and store seafood but spared the company’s adjacent processing operations.
Pacific Seafood said Monday that its employees were back at work and that its other Newport facilities were processing seafood as usual. But the company has not said how much freezer capacity it lost or whether it has found other places to store its products.
And Newport may not have enough available freezer space to make up for the loss.
“There is other freezer space, but as of today, it only has a fraction of what we estimate is needed,” said Paul Schuytema, executive director of Economic Development Alliance of Lincoln County, a local economic development organization.
That could pose problems for Pacific Seafood and the fishing boats that rely on it, especially with the commercial Dungeness crab season approaching in December.
Oregon state Rep. David Gomberg, D-Otis, said losing a freezer facility could create problems for seafood businesses even if they can continue processing fish.
“You catch fish, you bring them ashore, you process them, and before you can transport them to another marketing destination, you’ve got to refrigerate them,” Gomberg said.
Schuytema said it’s too early to know whether fishing boats will have trouble unloading or selling their catch, whether Pacific Seafood will change how much seafood it buys or whether workers could lose hours or jobs.
“That’s really the $60,000 question,” he said when asked whether the company could replace the lost freezer space and continue handling the same amount of seafood.
Ashton Meier, a Pacific Seafood vice president, said in a statement Monday that the fire damage appeared to be limited to one building.
“We are very happy to be able to report that all of our team members are already back at work today and we are processing as usual in all of our other facilities along the Newport bayfront,” Meier said.
Pacific Seafood is the largest seafood processor at the Port of Newport, and many of the roughly 250 commercial fishing boats based there rely on the company to unload and process their catch, according to Sarah Buddingh, an economist with the Economic Development Alliance of Lincoln County.
The company reported 227 employees in Lincoln County this year, ranking among the county’s 10 largest employers. Its workforce averaged 251 employees from 2022 through 2026, according to figures provided by Buddingh.
The broader fishing industry also plays a major role in the local economy. A study commissioned by Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife covering 2020 and 2021 estimated that commercial fishing supported more than 3,300 jobs and generated $354 million in economic activity in the Newport port area.
Fishing boats sometimes unload at other ports depending on what they catch. For example, vessels catching Pacific whiting often unload in Astoria, while Dungeness crab boats generally unload near where they set their traps, including Newport or Coos Bay, Schuytema said.
It’s unclear whether the fire will force any boats to change where they unload their catch.
Newport Mayor Jan Kaplan said the fire’s economic impact will take time to assess.
“Clearly there will be some impact, and we don’t know how large that will be,” Kaplan said Monday.
Kaplan said he expected boats to continue fishing. As of Sunday night, Pacific Seafood was looking for other ways to refrigerate its products, Kaplan said, but he did not know whether the company had found a solution.
The mayor said restoring the company’s full operations is a priority.
The fire comes as Oregon’s seafood processing industry faces mounting pressures. Industry employment hit a 25-year low in 2024 and remained 12% below its 2019 peak last year, according to Oregon Employment Department figures previously reported by The Oregonian/OregonLive. In 2024, Bornstein Seafoods closed its Newport operation and moved to Astoria, resulting in 50 layoffs.
Pacific Seafood has also been fighting $3.2 million in fines that Oregon environmental regulators imposed in April for wastewater violations at three other coastal facilities in Charleston, Brookings and Warrenton. The company has appealed the penalties, arguing that the state’s wastewater requirements are unreasonable and difficult to meet.
The fire also disrupted other businesses along Newport’s Bayfront, where restaurants, shops and tourist attractions line the waterfront.
Newport officials initially ordered people within a mile of the fire to evacuate because of heavy smoke and concerns that ammonia used in the refrigeration system could leak. The Oregon State Fire Marshal’s Office later said the ammonia tank appeared intact and was not leaking.
Authorities lifted most evacuation orders Sunday evening but kept part of Bay Boulevard closed as crews continued working at the site.
Schuytema said Monday that smoke damage to nearby businesses appeared minimal, but local officials were still assessing the extent of the damage and any lost sales.
Gomberg said he was concerned about the effects of road closures and possible smoke damage on nearby restaurants and shops.
“This is not the high season anymore,” he said. “But those businesses still are impacted.”
About 30 to 40 people were in or near the Pacific Seafood facility when the fire broke out shortly before 9 a.m. Sunday. No injuries were reported among workers or the public, although one firefighter was treated for exhaustion.
Firefighters worked through the night to extinguish the blaze. On Monday, officials began assessing the damaged building and investigating what caused the fire.
Kaplan said he had been in touch with state lawmakers, Oregon’s congressional delegation, the governor’s office and local agencies about possible assistance for Pacific Seafood, its workers and nearby businesses.
“We need to know what kind of help we need, and that’ll probably take a day or two,” he said.
Pacific Seafood said it would work with investigators to determine what caused the fire and whether any hazards remain.
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