Forest Service fire in Enterprise wasn't arson, officials say

Fire investigators said Monday that spontaneous combustion of materials used to apply sealant to a U.S. Forest Service visitors center in Enterprise is the probable cause of the July 11 fire that destroyed the 20-year-old building.

No criminal charges are pending, according to a press release from the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest.

The fire destroyed the Wallowa Mountains Visitor Center, a prominent log structure on a hill just west of Enterprise. No one was hurt in the fire, which happened on a Sunday.

Sea Side Associates of Chelan, Wash., owned the 20,500-square-foot building and leased it to the Forest Service.

On the day the fire started, workers hired by the owners were applying a sealant to the building's exterior.

The Wallowa-Whitman has set up a temporary visitors center in the Chamber of Commerce office in Enterprise. Forest Service workers are housed in a former elementary school in Joseph, five miles south of Enterprise. 

Workers from two other federal agencies that used the former visitors center -- the Natural Resources Conservation Service and Farm Services Agency -- are using the former Wallowa Memorial Hospital in Enterprise.

The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was the lead agency in the fire investigation. The FBI, U.S. Forest Service law enforcement, Oregon State Police, Oregon State Fire Marshal and Wallowa County Sheriff's Department were also involved.