Firefighters in Wisconsin struggled to contain an enormous blaze at a dairy Monday night due to heat, smoke, and butter.
Fire officials responded to reports of fire and smoke at the Associated Milk Producers in Portage just after 9:00 p.m., Fire Chief Troy Haase told WKOW News. Haase revealed that the fire began in a room that stored butter. As the fire grew, the butter began to flow through the building, making the task of putting it out more difficult.
At one point during the blaze, a portion of the facility’s roof caved in, though no injuries were reported, the outlet confirmed. (RELATED: California Woman Died In House Fire Caused By Christmas Tree Lights)
City of Portage Public Works contained and cleaned melted butter that leaked into a canal after a massive dairy processing plant fire. https://t.co/zFqUfFIYvm
— NBC15 News (@nbc15_madison) January 4, 2023
Gary Revels, who lives across from the dairy facility over the Portage Canal, told NBC 15 he could smell the butter burning Monday night, adding that the growing fire had him concerned. “We were worried about the embers catching this old building on fire,” Revels told the outlet.
Poynette fire officials stated they were able to contain the blaze around 2:30 a.m. Tuesday after pumping over 100,000 gallons of water onto the fire.
The melted butter leaked into the public storm sewer system and into the neighboring canal, Portage Public Works Director Phillip Livingston told NBC 15.
“We were notified as soon as the event took place to start the remediation process at that point,” Livingston said. “The butter is an organic material so there is no immediate concern as any harm to the environment itself, it’s just a matter of removing that contained substance,” he told the outlet.
After assessing the extent of the spill, Livingston hired a plumbing crew to remove most of the butter from the canal Tuesday afternoon.