It took over four hours to get the fire fully knocked down. In fact, a crew is still on the scene, watching for hot spots. Fire officials say the flames got into an attic area and started burning some insulation, and that made it very stubborn to put out. Some video taken by KSCI-TV in Jamestown shows the worst the flames got on the outside. Fire Chief Jim Reuther says it doesn't come close to telling the story.
Reuther: “The damage that's inside is quite extensive.”
Inside, flames spread from the south end to all the way to the north of this massive building. Fire crews were called to the Cavendish plant at around 1:30. They tried to go in, but the smoke was so thick they couldn't even tell where the fire was burning.
Reuther: “We have some firefighters who are volunteers who actually work out in Cavendish and they said they were actually disoriented inside and they work in this building every day, that's how thick the smoke was.”
They did know that the fire was burning in an area filled with fryers, to fry potatoes, a very dangerous situation for firefighters.
Reuther: “When the fryers are going you have all this hot grease in there so we have potential of problems in there by spraying water on the grease.”
So they had to work on it from the outside, until the flames finally poked through, and they could pinpoint exactly where to focus their efforts.
Reuther: “We've got a lot of area we've got to work on yet tonight.”
Cavendish workers were evacuated right away, and there were no injuries. The owner is planning to fly in Tuesday to get a look at the damage. No word yet on what caused the fire.
Fire causes extensive damage at french fry plant
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It took over four hours to get the fire fully knocked down. In fact, a crew is still on the scene, watching for hot spots.
/ Source: KVLY-TV
