Crabbers along the West Coast are helping each other out in the aftermath of a fire that destroyed a seafood offloading site in Ilwaco, Washington.

The Jan. 22 blaze destroyed nearly 4,000 crab pots — worth about $1.5 million — stored at the former Ilwaco Landing site, said fisherman Kelsey Cutting, a member of Washington’s Coastal Dungeness Crab Advisory Board.

The timing of the fire threatened to derail the opening of the Dungeness crab season for severalWashington state boats, but crabbers who were impacted had pots loaned to them.

Crabbers from as far away as California provided pots, said Cutting, who fishes out of Ilwaco but didn’t have gear at the former Ilwaco Landing site owned by Bornstein Seafoods.

“Ports up and down the coast, they were having pot drops. Guys could bring any extra pots, they’d put them on a trailer and bring them up,” Cutting said.

“It was a terrible tragedy with losing that plant, and then all of the gear loss. It was awesome to see the fishing community and the entire coast come together,” he added.

Matthew George, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s coastal shellfish manager, said the outpouring of support was impressive.

“We were gearing up to coordinate that effort and then it organically happened,” he added.

The fire occurred a week before crabbers were set to drop gear into the ocean. The Dungeness crab season opens in Washington state and on the North Coast of Oregon on Thursday.

Extra crab pots were available in Washington state thanks to a crab pot limit at the start of the season of about 20%, put in place to ensure the state fulfills its sharing obligations with coastal treaty tribes.

California also had a 50% limit to avoid whale and turtle entanglements with fishing gear.

Cutting gave his extras to a friend who lost 600 crab pots.

The gear doesn’t come cheap, though. A fully rigged pot, with rope and buoys, is worth around $400.

The Department of Fish and Wildlife is working to replace buoy tags for registered gear that was lost in the fire.

The state is waiving requirements such as line marking colors and buoy colors for fishermen who lost their gear and are getting donated crab pots from various sources.