…… Report all food producers/silos/warehouses destroyed (2022)

I've been thinking of making a list of all the food related factories, producers, packagers, etc. that have gone up in smoke recently. It seems to be way to many to be just random chance, but without good data, it can be hard to be sure.

Then the following post in another thread started me thinking...

parsonswife said:

Wow! Anyone here keeping a spreadsheet on food producers/silos/warehouses destroyed since covid? Would love to share with DGI family.

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There are a lot of smart people here, and I might be able to find many of the strange fires, but I bet I won't remember or be able to find them all. So I thought I'd ask ya'll if you remember a particular one, if you'd made a note note of it here in this thread and we'd be able to start making a list.

• Focus on things effecting the American food chain: Food production, distribution, transportation, inputs (like fertilizer and tractors), pet food, baby food, etc.
• Also okay to include train derailments, catastrophic accidents, and major rail line destruction (that we can reasonably determine relate to food, fertilizer, or farming equipment) in the US, or in Canada & Mexico specifically destine for the US food supply.
• Also okay to include ship disasters at sea, bringing food/fertilizer to the US probably should be also include. However, I think things like port delays, shut downs and work stoppages that are more general in nature should not be.

Please try to keep the discussion that is off topic to a minimum.
Also look at the list to see if it might already be included.

(While I can edit this post, I'll continue to try to add to this list when they are posted below):

2021
Jan - Illinois - Fire destroys Deli Star deli meat plant in Fayetteville
Mar - Iowa - Massive fire destroys 40k sandwiches per day sandwich plant in Mareng
April - Fire breaks out at Baltimore’s iconic Domino Sugar factory
Jul - Alabama - Building in flames at Tyson/River Valley Ingredients plant near Hanceville
Sep - Nebraska - Fire at Huge Grand Island Beef Plant Disrupts Production Briefly
Oct - Idaho - Fire at powdered milk & butter Darigold plant in downtown Caldwell
Dec - Texas - Smoke damage @ West Side food plant left after fire in San Antonio

2022
Jan - California's largest raw milk dairy burned to the ground
Jan - Louisiana - Feed mill fire and explosion in Lecompte
Feb - Oregon - Potato chip plant burns down from a boiler explosion
Feb - Pennsylvania - Silo fire at Rissers Grain in East Drumore Township (No Link Yet)
Feb - Indiana - Fire at largest U.S. soy processing plant
Mar - Arizona - Maricopa food pantry lost 50,000lbs of food in a fire
Mar - Indiana - Massive fire broke out at a Walmart distribution center
Mar - Maine - Fire at Belfast potato processing factory
Mar - Arkansas - Nestle fire
Apr - Nebraska - Turbine explosion causes fire at Western Sugar plant in Scottsbluff
Apr - California - Two alarm fire @ UPS facility also destroys dozens of UPS trucks
Apr - Kansas - Tyson beef plant partially destroyed by fire
Apr - Taylor Farms packaged salad plant
Apr - Azure HQ Destroyed by Fire
Apr - New Hampshire - Fire destorys one of the few USDA Beef & Pork butcher shops near Conway

mecoastie said:

We just had one of the few USDA butchers around us burn o

Pet Related (For now I'm keeping the list separate, while I determine if it should be combined with the rest)
Jan 2021 - Utah - Firefighters extinguish blaze at Ogden pet food plant
Nov 2021 - Utah - Fire at one of the largest pet treat makers Mountain Country Foods in Spanish Fork
Jan 2022 - Louisiana - Big fire at Cargill Nutrena, an animal feed mill
Apr 2022 - Pennsylvania - Equipment Fire at J.M. Smucker-Owned Pet Food Plant

(I should be able to edit this post for about another 4 hours, unless there is a way for me to edit it longer).

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Jan 2022 California largest raw milk dairy burned to the ground

April 14, 2022
Taylor Farms packaged salad plant in Salinas

April 19, 2022
Azure HQ Destroyed by Fire - Not the production line, but might cause C&C issues in distributing.

Feb 25, 2022
A boiler explosion at a potato chip plant south of Hermiston (OR) sparked a dramatic fire Tuesday afternoon.
The plant supplies much of the Western U.S. with potato and corn chips.

Mar 19, 2022
PLAINFIELD, Ind. a massive fire broke out at a Walmart distribution center

Apr 19, 2022
Holcomb Kansas

Tyson beef plant at Holcomb, Kan. partially destroyed by fire

“This is a difficult time for our team members and their families, and we want to ensure they’re taken care of.” So said Steve Stouffer, group president of Tyson Fresh Meats, in an August 12 news release following an August 9 fire at its Holcomb, Kan. beef packing plant that partially destroyed the operation.

“We’re taking steps to move production to alternative sites,” Stouffer said. “Tyson Foods has built in some redundancy to handle situations like these and we will use other plants within our network to help keep our supply chain full.” The plant will be down indefinitely, however; the company plans to rebuild the plant at the same location. Officials are still assessing the damage, so it’s too early to establish a timeline, but work to clear damage has already begun, according to Tyson’s release.


Related: Tyson to rebuild Kansas beef plant after fire

Meanwhile, fed cattle processing capacity will be strained to handle record available supplies, according to the Kansas Livestock Association (KLA). The plant operated at about 6,000 head of fed cattle per day, leaving a shortfall in the national packing capacity of 30,000 head for a five-day work week.

According to CattleFax, that amounts to 6% of total U.S. fed cattle packing capacity the rest of the processing industry will need to absorb. The plant represents 23.5% of Kansas fed cattle packing capacity.
“This is a difficult time for our team members and their families, and we want to ensure they’re taken care of.” So said Steve Stouffer, group president of Tyson Fresh Meats, in an August 12 news release following an August 9 fire at its Holcomb, Kan. beef packing plant that partially destroyed the operation.

“We’re taking steps to move production to alternative sites,” Stouffer said. “Tyson Foods has built in some redundancy to handle situations like these and we will use other plants within our network to help keep our supply chain full.” The plant will be down indefinitely, however; the company plans to rebuild the plant at the same location. Officials are still assessing the damage, so it’s too early to establish a timeline, but work to clear damage has already begun, according to Tyson’s release.


Related: Tyson to rebuild Kansas beef plant after fire

Meanwhile, fed cattle processing capacity will be strained to handle record available supplies, according to the Kansas Livestock Association (KLA). The plant operated at about 6,000 head of fed cattle per day, leaving a shortfall in the national packing capacity of 30,000 head for a five-day work week.

According to CattleFax, that amounts to 6% of total U.S. fed cattle packing capacity the rest of the processing industry will need to absorb. The plant represents 23.5% of Kansas fed cattle packing capacity.


Related: Tyson unveils alternative protein products

Based on CattleFax analysis, shifting the supply to other plants in Kansas, Texas, Colorado, Nebraska and Iowa will mean capacity in those regions needs to run 8% to 8.5% higher. The market analysis service reports this will be difficult to make up based on current packing industry infrastructure.


CattleFax suggests the significance of this event is amplified by the growing supply of finished cattle both nationwide and in Kansas. The U.S. cattle on feed total in feedyards with 1,000 or more head capacity was record large at 11.5 million head July 1. Cattle on feed in Kansas as of July 1 stood at 2.4 million head, which was also a record and represented about 21% of U.S. total.

Potential market impacts predicted by CattleFax include a possible loss of currentness in the cattle feeding segment; cattle feeders could lose some market leverage and all classes of cattle could see more price risk. Some of the pressure could be alleviated if existing harvest capacity dedicated to cows and bulls is incentivized to process fed cattle and if plants have the cooler, boxed beef capacity and labor to process cattle on weekends.

KLA has been in contact with Tyson and Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly's administration regarding the situation, the association said in its news release. This communication will continue as KLA works with both sides to address any obstacles standing in the way of bringing the facility back on-line as quickly as possible. Gov. Kelly has expressed the state's full support to Tyson President and Chief Executive Officer Noel White.

Over the weekend, KLA asked NCBA to make the Commodity Futures Trading Commission aware of the situation. NCBA made contact with the regulatory agency and contacted the office of U.S. Ag Secretary Sonny Perdue to apprise USDA of the plant fire.

Meanwhile, all full-time, active employees at the plant will be paid weekly until production resumes, according to Tyson. Stouffer said the team members may be called on to work during this time to help with clean-up and other projects, but regardless of the hours worked, all full-time active employees are guaranteed pay.


Stouffer commended plant management for quickly and efficiently evacuating the building. As a result of their actions, there were no injuries reported during the fire. Tyson Foods operates six plants in Kansas, employing more than 5,600 people. In the company’s fiscal year 2018, it paid $269 million in wages within Kansas and estimated its total economic impact in the state to be more than $2.4 billion.

March 24, 2022
Maine

Fire at Belfast potato processing factory prompts evacuations, school and road closures

March 15, 2022
Jonesboro, Arkansas

Nestle fire under investigation, ‘malicious intent’ not suspected

January 2, 2022
Momence, Illinois

Fire Breaks Out At Frozen Food Manufacturer In Momence; No Injuries Reported

April 2021
Fire breaks out at Baltimore’s iconic Domino Sugar factory

Did not realize that this one was so long ago, I thought it was more recent than 1 year ago!

April 12, 2022
LANCASTER, Calif. (KABC) -- Flames destroyed dozens of UPS trucks when a large fire broke out at a facility in Lancaster on Monday.

Quotes from article:

a second alarm fire, which brought approximately 70 firefighters to the fight. The fire spread throughout a metal clad building and extended to possibly five or six trailers.

A total of 25 UPS trucks and 10 tractor trailers were damaged, according to authorities. A spokesperson for the fire department said some UPS units were in the process of being loaded and unloaded.

I just hope there isn't a fire at the popcorn factory.

Backwoods Chic said:

March 15, 2022
Jonesboro, Arkansas

Nestle fire under investigation, ‘malicious intent’ not suspected

Nestle fire under investigation, ‘malicious intent’ not suspected

After burning for nearly 24 hours, the fire at Nestle is finally out.

www.kfvs12.com

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Was this one around the time that they were being boycotted because of continuing business in Russia? I believe they did change their mind and pulled out of Russia, but maybe this was related?

Thank you for starting this thread!!

I think you should add natural gas plant explosions. Like the one at Haven, Kansas. There was a recent one in N. Carolina too I think. What struck me as odd was the article said arson was ruled out and then went on to say cause was " undetermined". Does that make any sense?

Back in Feb. there was a silo fire at Rissers Grain in East Drumore Township, Pennsylvania. They are wheat corn, barley and fertilizer I think it said.

March 30th, Maricopa food pantry lost 50,000 lbs of food in a fire.

Wonder how many are happy insurance fires?

Edited out - Sorry skipped right over your wanting to focus on the U.S.

Wow!

Thank you for putting this together.

Slydersan said:

Edited out - Sorry skipped right over your wanting to focus on the U.S.

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I saw that fire too over in England or wherever. Bad!

Terrwyn said:

I saw that fire too over in England or wherever. Bad!

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I'll just quickly say that I had mentioned that BIG grain silo explosion in Beirut, Lebanon in August 2020.

Slydersan said:

I'll just quickly say that I had mentioned that BIG grain silo explosion in Beirut, Lebanon in August 2020.

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Oh OK. I thought you were talking about that huge food warehouse in England. Can't remember the details.

Putting this list together was a really good idea. In searching there are a lot of grain elevator fires but they don't make anything but local news so we don't hear about them. Do any of you that are farmers know if this is a common occurrence? Or are they out of the ordinary.

Terrwyn said:

Putting this list together was a really good idea. In searching there are a lot of grain elevator fires but they don't make anything but local news so we don't hear about them. Do any of you that are farmers know if this is a common occurrence? Or are they out of the ordinary.

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Very common. Fine dust in high enough concentrations are extremely explosive with a spark...

Summerthyme

February 16, 2022
Chicago

Louis Dreyfus reports fire at largest U.S. soy processing plant

September 13, 2021
Grand Island, Nebraska

Fire at Huge Nebraska Beef Plant Disrupts Production Briefly

December 12, 2021
San Antonio, Texas

West Side food processing plant left with smoke damage after fire, SAFD says

Feed mill fire and explosion - Lecompte, Louisiana - January 2022

Looks like a pattern to me, now throw in all the refinery fires and explosions, and you should get the picture!

Feb 23 2022

October 12, 2021
Caldwell, Idaho
The Darigold facility in Caldwell produces powdered milk and butter.

Fire at Darigold plant in downtown Caldwell

March 01, 2021
Marengo, Iowa

Pride of Iowa manufactures pre-packaged sandwiches for convenience stores, vending machines, private label clients, and institutional customers, according to information on its website. The company’s USDA inspected facility in Marengo can produce up to 40,000 sandwiches per day.

Massive Fire Destroys Food Production Plant

January 12, 2021
Fayetteville, Illinois

Deli Star has processed multiple types of cooked beef, chicken, pork and turkey in its plant.

Fire destroys Illinois deli plant, town's major employer

April 9, 2022
Scottsbluff, Nebraska
Western Sugar makes GW granulated sugar brand.

Turbine explosion causes fire at Western Sugar plant

July 25, 2021
Memphis, Tennessee

3-alarm fire at Kellogg plant, 170 emergency personnel responded to the call

phloydius said:

I've been thinking of making a list of all the food related factories, producers, packagers, etc. that have gone up in smoke recently. It seems to be way to many to be just random chance, but without good data, it can be hard to be sure.

Then the following post in another thread started me thinking...




There are a lot of smart people here, and I might be able to find many of the strange fires, but I bet I won't remember or be able to find them all. So I thought I'd ask ya'll if you remember a particular one, if you'd made a note note of it here in this thread and we'd be able to start making a list.

Focus on things effecting the American food chain: Food production, distribution, transportation, inputs (like fertilizer and tractors), etc.

Please try to keep the discussion that is off topic to a minimum.

(While I can edit this post, I'll continue to try to add to this list when they are posted below):

2021
April - Fire breaks out at Baltimore’s iconic Domino Sugar factory

2022
Jan - California's largest raw milk dairy burned to the ground
Feb - Oregon - Potato chip plant burns down from a boiler explosion
Feb - Pennsylvania - Silo fire at Rissers Grain in East Drumore Township (No Link Yet)
Feb - Indiana - Fire at largest U.S. soy processing plant
Mar - Arizona - Maricopa food pantry lost 50,000 lbs of food in a fire
Mar - Indiana - Massive fire broke out at a Walmart distribution center
Mar - Maine - Fire at Belfast potato processing factory
Mar - Arkansas - Nestle fire
Apr - California - Two alarm fire @ UPS facility also destroys dozens of UPS trucks
Apr - Kansas - Tyson beef plant partially destroyed by fire
Apr - Taylor Farms packaged salad plant
Apr - Azure HQ Destroyed by Fire

Click to expand...

Thank you!!!