Business as usual after plant fire, says Cargill Animal Nutrition

US feed maker, Cargill Animal Nutrition, reports that a fire at its plant in Salem, in New York, has had no impact on business.

Mike McClay, the plant manager at Cargill's Salem facility, told us customers should not expect any service disruptions.

"Employees are back to work and the plant is expected to be fully operational in the next 12 to 24 hours," he said yesterday.

McClay said that firefighters put out a small early morning fire at the facility, and added that there were no injuries and only minor water damage to the plant.

"Shortly after midnight on Monday, the night crew noticed heat coming from a bin bottom and smelled smoke, but there were no visual flames. Following Cargill’s safety and operations protocol, employees were safely evacuated and as a precaution, the fire department was called to further investigate the situation. A hotspot of smoldering feed was found and contained to one grain bin. Fire crews added water to the bin, which quickly cooled the area," he explained. 

And the plant team, added the manager, closely monitored the bin following the incident to ensure the fire was completely out before full operations resumed.