Fire destroys MInden warehouse
by
Dara Newson
Story Created:
Jan 23, 2012 at 1:00 PM CDT
Story Updated:
Jan 23, 2012 at 1:11 PM CDT
A massive fire destroys a warehouse complex operated by CSS Farms of rural Minden. The fire was reported around 7:00 pm Saturday night.
Minden, Axtell, and Kearney fire were all called to the scene.
News 5 spoke with the manager Tracil Power and he says one of the machines used to produce the potatoes had a bad electrical wire, which shorted out causing a fire and some pretty extreme damage to the facility.
The smell of burnt steel and rubber plague the farm of rural Minden.
And the sight of debris, a demolished garage front and ceiling make the stench of a blazing fire even more apparent.
"The office and the shop facility, our loading facility was damaged some what but mostly the electrical because of the heat from the fire," said CSS Farms Manager Tracil Power.
The fire started upstairs, a spark of a bad electrical wire and then this.
Power's says the damage will put a halt to the production process.
"Unable to ship potatoes probably for close to a week anyway until we get out temporary wiring redone," Power said.
Sixteen loads of potatoes were to be shipped out Sunday with most of them going to areas in Kansas, Tennessee and Arkansas. Now business must continue else where.
"We do have another farm in Columbus, Nebraska so all the loads we transferred, those will go over there for awhile, they'll be loading out of there instead of here," said Power.
No one was hurt in the fire and work crews continue to clean up the debris. Power tells me a contractor will soon evaluate the warehouse to see if it can be restored or must be completely rebuilt.
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