A massive fire tore through a Quaker Oats plant in Iowa on Saturday following an apparent explosion, but no injuries were reported.
Heavy smoke and flames rose from the north side of the facility as firefighters responded at about 4:45 p.m., according to the Cedar Rapids Fire Department. The plant is the largest of its kind in the world.
The fire began after an explosion inside the building, the department said.
Mayor Tiffany O’Donnell said on Facebook that every worker at the site evacuated safely and that no injuries had been reported.
The blaze started in a section used to handle products that is “not heavily populated with employees and team members,” O’Donnell said, adding that the location “in this case was a blessing.”
Officials had not said how many employees were inside the building when the fire erupted.
“Firefighting operations were successful in extinguishing most of the fire,” the fire department said in a Facebook release.
By about 6:25 p.m. local time, crews were still conducting limited operations inside the building, including final suppression efforts and overhaul work.
The cause of the explosion and fire remained unknown Saturday night, fire officials said.
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No firefighters were injured while responding to the blaze.
A nearby witness said the sight of smoke pouring from the plant brought feelings of “terror, sadness [and] worry.”
“Explosions are bad, fires are bad,” Dan Gardner told KCRG.
“Quaker Oats is a staple of this town,” he said. “So we don’t want to see them blow up.”
Texas resident Emilio Esquivel said the scene looked “like a movie scene.”
“Seeing something like that was just like eye opening,” Esquivel told the local station. “It was eyebrow raising. It was crazy.”
According to the company’s website, the Quaker Oats plant is the world’s largest milling facility, processing more than 2 million pounds of oats daily.
Quaker Oats Company, owned by PepsiCo, is best known for its old-fashioned oats.
With Post wires.
