Fire Destroys A McAlester Food Processing Plant

Thursday, January 18th 2007, 9:07 pm

By: News On 6

A McAlester industrial park is partially open after a fire destroys one business in the park. Already hard hit by the storm, McAlester firefighters had to battle a massive blaze at the Diversified Foods plant late Thursday evening. Fire investigators say they still don't know how or where the fire started.

News on 6 reporter Carina Sonn says smoke was still rising Friday morning as employees who work in the industrial park wait for the go ahead to return to work and fire crews babysat what's left of Diversified Foods.

It's a tranquil display compared to Thursday night. McAlester Fire Chief Harold Stewart: "the east end of the building was totally involved and the fire vented through the roof."

Stewart says someone driving by the plant a little after 7 PM saw the fire and called for help. Only a handful of employees were working at the time, none of them were injured. Officials say their main concern was the 30,000 pounds of anhydrous ammonia on site. "We set a perimeter, evacuated everyone within that perimeter and went more to a defensive mode."

Fire crews say half of the ammonia was untouched during the fire. They say they've isolated it and crews are expected to recover the remaining anhydrous ammonia. Diversified Foods moved to McAlester last year after the plant in Louisiana was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.

The plant's 75 employees make macaroni and cheese, bar-b-que sauce and other food items for restaurants across the nation. The plant manager says the company has four other locations in the South, those plants will now have to pick up the slack.

He says he's relieved no one was hurt, but a lot of families depend on the plant and he just wants his employees working again.

The McAlester Fire Department is working with the state fire marshal to determine the exact cause of the fire. Damage is estimated at about $9-million.