BREAKING NEWS: Fire departments respond en masse to Liguria Foods
Humboldt firefighters cut into the roof Saturday evening at Liguria Foods in Humboldt at the corner of 15th Street North and 16th Avenue North. The call was received at 7:18 p.m. The fire was brought under control in 15 minutes, but emergency personnel were on the scene for 1 hour and 45 minutes. Humboldt Independent photo by Kent Thompson.
Emergency personnel from Humboldt County were out in full force early Saturday evening at Liguria Foods, after a fire was reported on the roof. “It was fortunate this happened in the daylight hours. It could have been much worse had it been at 2 a.m.,” Humboldt County Sheriff Dean Kruger reported. See this and other photos in the upcoming issue of the Humboldt Independent. Your trusted source for local news and sports. Humboldt Independent photo by Kent Thompson.
By KENT THOMPSON
The Humboldt Fire Department was called to a four-alarm fire at Liguria Foods, 1515 15th St. N., Saturday evening, Aug. 17, at 7:18 p.m.
According to Humboldt Fire Chief Jim Gronbach, “flames were coming out dry room No. 1. The deck was on fire and it was climbing up the wall to the rubber roofing.
“We quickly extinguished everything and checked inside for any sign of fire. There was just some light smoking formulation in dry room 1 and 2a and 2b, a little smoke in the combo cooler and we were able to ventilate that out,” Gronbach said.
Firefighters were able to extinguish the fire in about 15 minutes.
Firefighters then investigated the insulation under the rubber roof to make sure everything was out and there was nothing to reignite.
Gronbach said the fire department’s investigation has discovered the source of the blaze. “One of the exhaust vent pipes had heat tape around it and it malfunctioned, laid on the roof and was the ignition (point) of the fire,” the fire chief said.
“It was hot enough and stayed arching long enough to set the rubber roof on fire and the insulation, with a little breeze it spread to some wood decking that holds up the support bars for ammonia pipes,” Gronbach said.
“It was going for a little while and then got hot enough to create fire and smoke to where it got noticed.
The Humboldt Fire Chief said there was no need to call in Hazmat, as there were no hazardous materials present.
Full crews from Gilmore City and Bode Fire Departments were called in for mutual aid assistance and helped in the fire suppression control at the plant.
Ty Taylor, plant manager at Liguria Foods, was thankful for the quick response by local firefighters and emergency personnel.
“The big thing is that no one got hurt. We just had a few maintenance personnel working at the time and they were able to exit the building quickly,” Taylor said.
“We’ll be up and running as soon as we can,” Taylor reported.
Gronbach said there were 12 Humboldt firefighters on the scene and another 10-12 firefighters and first responders from Bode and Gilmore City.
Firefighters and other emergency personnel were on the scene for 1 hour and 45 minutes.
No dollar estimate of damage was immediately available.
“We put it out and found the source of the fire, so that was a good thing,” Gronbach said.
In addition to the fire departments, assisting at the scene were the Humboldt Police Department, Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office, Humboldt County Memorial Hospital Ambulance and EMTs and other first responders.
