The Official Newspaper for Foster County
The Official Newspaper for Foster County
A small fire in the hammer mill at Dakota Growers Pasta Company in northwest Carrington on Friday, April 15, caused equipment damage and evacuation of plant workers.
No injuries were reported in the incident, which happened at 9:57 a.m. that morning and required the intervention of Carrington Fire and Rescue.
Carrington Fire Chief Ken Wangen and Assistant Chief Jason Wolsky said that the fire started when a batch of semolina got plugged in machinery at the hammer mill, located on the first floor of the plant, causing it to catch fire.
“When we arrived on scene, we did have heavy smoke coming from the area,” said Wolsky. “The mill was shut down, and we were able to remove the burnt material from the milling equipment.”
The department added that the Dakota Growers staff did an excellent job of removing all staff out of the building upon Fire and Rescue’s arrival.
“Everyone was accounted for,” said Wolsky.
CF&R, along with CHI Carrington EMS, was on scene for approximately one hour. Estimated damages from the fire at the plant are unknown at this time.
The department was busy later that day as well around 6:30 p.m., as they were called to the scene of a plow truck experiencing overheating brakes at the North Dakota Department of Transportation’s shop on the east side of Carrington.
When the truck returned to town from its snow removal duties, the back axle of the vehicle overheated and a tire blew, starting a fire.
Scene time for the second incident ran about 30 minutes, and no injuries were reported.
Four days earlier, on Monday, April 11 around 8:30 p.m., CF&R also was called into action to provide containment on a controlled burn at a burn pit south of town.
