Vegetable oil runoff in creek may have killed thousands of salmon, other fish

WINLOCK, Wash. (AP) — Thousands of small salmon and other fish may have died after a fire at a food warehouse in Lewis County apparently caused vegetable oil to enter a creek, a spokesman for the Washington Department of Ecology said Tuesday.

The scene in Olequa Creek appears to be a "100 percent kill for 5 miles" downstream, with officials unsure how many fish died "because the number is so high," department spokesman Chase Gallagher said.

Olequa Creek is a tributary of the Cowlitz River, and its Native American name means "where salmon come to spawn."

The fire was reported at Olympic Trading Company in Winlock early Tuesday morning. The company had just taken a large delivery of vegetable or other cooking oil, and Gallagher said it's extremely likely that's the oil that entered the stream.

Crews were using absorbent pads and vacuum trucks to try to contain and clean the spill.