Damage from Monday’s fire and explosion at a California Dairies, Inc. (CDI) powder and butter plant is expected to be minimal, the co-op’s CEO said today.
“We’ll have a better assessment in the next 48 hours, but it appears there was very minor damage,” said CDI’s Richard Cotta. “Product loss appears to be minimal.”
Clean-up at the
“We’re getting great cooperation from our competitors, who are taking milk for us, and from our suppliers,” he said.
No injuries were reported among the plant’s 100 employees, although one worker was treated for heat exhaustion, said Brian Adney, Battalion Chief with the City of
The cause of the fire may take several days to determine, Cotta said. Damage was limited to the main dryer chamber and the two bag houses. No damaged product entered the food chain.
The 10-story plant was in the middle of a textbook run of drying milk to make milk powder, a CDI news release reported today. The computer data showed that within a span of less than 3 minutes, the dryer temperature spiked to the maximum limit. A spontaneous combustion explosion followed.
All safety backup systems in the plant, including explosion doors in the dryer, “worked perfectly,” Cotta said. The doors are designed to explode to release heat and pressure, preventing additional damage.
Adney said his department received the emergency call at 9:52 a.m. Fire crews remained on site until 6:45 p.m. Monday evening to ensure all hot spots were extinguished and the situation was safe, Adney added.
“That facility was very on the ball,” said Adney. “Emergency operating systems, evacuation plan, accountability for personnel – all worked extremely well. It made our job easy. Obviously, some training has been going on there. They were awesome, and that’s rare to see.”
CDI, the state’s largest dairy cooperative, processes about 45% of
Catherine Merlo is Western editor for Dairy Today. You can reach her at cmerlo@farmjournal.com.
