SEATAC, Wash. — One SeaTac food bank is ending the year on a tough note. One of its food trailers was destroyed by a fire that caused more than $700,000 in losses of food donations and damage.
Pastor Kelly Crow of Praisealujah, a food distribution center in SeaTac, is in disbelief about what happened to end the year.
"We can't even use it, yeah it's a bummer, just happened yesterday,” said Pastor Crow.
Officials with Puget Sound Fire said crews responded to a large fire around 7:15 a.m. on Friday. The non-profit's 53-foot food distribution trailer was engulfed in flames. Investigators said the fire was "accidental" and was caused by an unhoused person who had started a fire underneath the trailer.
"Pretty rough out here, people trying to survive when it's raining, just kind of devastating our property got damaged, we had a bunch of food in there," said Pastor Crow.
The trailer had thousands of pounds of food which included various meats and produce. Pastor Crow estimates the food and damage to the trailer is a loss of about $700,000, which will have a significant impact on how they serve the more than 1,200 community members that visit their facility every week.
"Have to not give out as much food, we're still going to push through and give out food but before it was always, give them as much as they want," Pastor Crow said."They did a drive-through and load(ed) them up but now we're going to have to be a little wise about it."
Pastor Crow hopes people will consider donating to the non-profit through its website to help, but said no matter what he and the rest of his team will do what they can to continue serving the community.
"We're not going to be defeated, we're going to keep on,” said Pastor Kelly. “We'll figure it out one way or the other."