Ninkasi Brewing Production Facility Roof Fire Contained; No Injuries, Beer Spared

Flames and a plume of smoke shot from the roof of Ninkasi Brewing’s production facility in Eugene’s Whitaker District, sending neighbors at Blair Alley Arcade and a nearby food truck streaming videos and prompting a rapid fire response; firefighters contained the blaze and no injuries were reported. The building is on the 200 block of Van Buren Street.

Eugene Springfield Fire crews were called about the blaze around 6:30 p.m. on February 28 and Engine 2 from the Whitaker station arrived within roughly three and a half minutes, reporting smoke coming from the roof before finding heavy smoke inside the production area. Crews ordered the evacuation of remaining occupants and began an interior attack where possible.

When firefighters encountered flames through the roof they raised a second alarm to bring additional resources, then opened and overhauled the roof and applied heavy streams of water to suppress hot spots. The attack and overhaul caused extensive damage to the roof and the fire was contained to the area of origin, but firefighting operations left significant water and structural damage in that sector of the building.

Company leadership identified the immediate area involved as the roof above a boiler. Jamie Floyd, Ninkasi co‑founder and founding Brewmaster, said, “I don’t have a definitive answer to what happened yet. The roof above a boiler caught on fire. We are assessing how it caught on fire. The boiler had been inspected a couple weeks ago,” said Floyd. “lots to figure out still.” The extent of damage to the boiler itself remains unclear.

Ninkasi officials say no impact is expected to the Ninkasi Tasting Room, though what damage to the roof and the boiler means for brewing operations has not been determined. The production facility is responsible for Ninkasi’s flagship beers, including Total Domination IPA and Tricerahops Double IPA, and also houses Ecliptic Brewing; the company was recently joined by Incline Cider and San Juan Seltzer in the larger Great Frontier portfolio.

Eugene Springfield Fire and brewery staff continue to investigate the cause of the fire. For now the sequence is clear: a rapid response from Engine 2 and additional units, a second alarm after fire breached the roof, exhaustive overhaul that contained the blaze to its origin, and no reported injuries as crews worked to secure the production building.