3 hurt in fire at Fairmont soybean plant

Published 10:10 am Tuesday, August 7, 2012

FAIRMONT — Three people suffered injuries in a dust explosion and fire at the CHS soybean processing plant in Fairmont.

Fairmont Fire Chief Doug Borchardt said an employee of CHS was treated for minor burns, and two firefighters trying to put out the resulting flames received minor injuries as well, one with steam burns, the other from heat exhaustion.

The extent of the damage was not immediately clear, but Borchardt said crews had to tear off equipment and parts of the building while they chased the blaze through the facility. He said crews were worried about the fire spreading into the extraction portion of the facility, which contains explosive hexane gas.

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