Video courtesy Tremonton Police Department
TREMONTON, Utah, Oct. 2, 2020 (Gephardt Daily) — A pre-dawn blaze in the boiler room of a Tremonton food processing plant sent several employees to the hospital Friday morning, and caused evacuations as crews from multiple area fire departments responded.
The fire was sparked at the West Liberty Foods plant, at 705 N. 2000 West. Employees were evacuated, as were nearby businesses and residences, Chief Kurt Fertig, Tremonton Police Department, told Gephardt Daily.
“We were called just before 5:30 a.m., and fires crews arrived soon after,” Fertig said. “We were able to contain it in parts of the building away from where they had some flammable liquids. It took about an hour to put it out.”
Fertig said two or three employees were transported to the hospital with burns, which did not initially appear to be serious, he said. West Liberty Foods worked quickly to evacuate employees, Fertig said.
“We evacuated some of the neighborhoods, and lifted that at 7:30,” he said.
The fire marshal will determine the cause of the fire, but Fertig said the flames appeared to originate with a liquid heating unit in the boiler room. The fire did not spread much from that location, he said.
“It could have been much worse,” he said. “Other parts of the building remain undamaged, and employees have been allowed back to work. We will watch the site through the day, just in case something tries to flare up again.”
Besides the Tremonton Fire Department, firefighting agencies responded from Garland, Fielding and Brigham City.
Gephardt Daily will have more information as it is released.
