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Firefighters assist at soybean plant
The Okabena and Heron Lake fire departments were dispatched to Minnesota Soybean Processors in Brewster Tuesday night to assist with a fire at the plant.
Brewster Fire Department officials issued the mutual aid request to the two Jackson County departments from the scene shortly after 10:15 p.m.
Shortly after 10 p.m., a fire was detected in an air system in the soybean preparation area of the plant, MNSP announced Wednesday. It is thought that smoldering debris that had gone undetected during a plant start-up after a brief scheduled maintenance shutdown flamed up when air systems were activated. No injuries resulted and there was no damage to the equipment.
It was necessary to request the assistance of the Brewster Fire Department, so that its resources could be utilized to assist the plant's own efforts, a spokesperson said. According to standard operating procedures, the Brewster Fire Department was joined by other designated fire departments. This proved effective in quickly containing the flames.
Normal operations in soybean receiving and soybean meal loading continued Wednesday morning, and the plant is expected to resume normal operations Wednesday afternoon. Biodiesel operations are unaffected by this incident, the company said.
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