At 7:32 am on September 9th 2019, the Barron Maple Grove Fire Department was dispatched to a report of a working structure fire inside the feed mill cooling tower located at the Jennie-O Plant in Barron. First arriving crews reported heavy smoke showing from the west side of the building and requested surrounding fire departments to be paged for additional manpower.
Firefighters made entry into the tower and initiated searches of each floor, resulting in no victims and all plant employees being accounted for. Due to the quick recognition and early notification of this fire by onsite employees, emergency crews were able to contain the fire to the cooling tower without extending into adjacent structures.
At 9:19 am, the fire was classified under control with no responder or civilian injuries. All responders cleared the scene by 1:15pm.
Responding departments included:
Barron Maple Grove Fire Department
Chetek Fire Department
Cumberland Fire Department
Rice Lake Fire Department
New Auburn Fire Department (Rehab Trailer)
Mayo EMS
Barron Police Department
Barron County Sheriff’s Department
Fire investigators are working with Jennie-O personnel to determine the cause of the fire, however it does not appear suspicious in nature.
