Update: Filtration unit causes fire at Hormel annex building

Published 3:25 pm Wednesday, May 15, 2013

The Austin Fire Department extinguished a fire at a Hormel Foods Corp. annex building that started just before noon Wednesday.

The building, on Ninth Street Northeast just east of International Paper, was evacuated, according to Fire Chief Mickey Healey. According to the Austin Police Department, which assisted, a 61-year-old man who tried to put out the fire was treated for smoke inhalation and is OK. No others were injured.

“They had an emergency evacuation plan,” Healey added. “Everything went fine with that.”

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Healey said the fire started in a filtration unit, in which dust filters got too hot and combusted. However, firefighters contained the fire within about 15 minutes, and most of the damage was limited to the filtration unit itself.

Hormel manager of external communications Rick Williamson said there is no damage estimate at this time. Firefighters remained on scene for several hours to help clear smoke from the building. Employees were later allowed to go back into the building.