A significant fire broke out at a Quaker Oats facility in Iowa on Saturday following what seems to have been an explosion, though, thankfully, there were no reported injuries.
Smoke and flames were visible from the northern side of the plant as firefighters arrived at the scene around 4:45 p.m., according to the Cedar Rapids Fire Department.
The fire ignited due to an explosion occurring inside the building, as stated by the fire department.
Mayor Tiffany O’Donnell announced on Facebook that all employees were able to evacuate safely and that there were no injuries. The fire started in a section of the plant that is “not heavily populated with employees and team members,” which O’Donnell noted was fortunate.
It’s not clear how many people were in the building when the fire started.
The fire department reported on Facebook that they were mostly able to extinguish the fire, although they were still engaged in some limited operations to address the situation inside the building as of around 6:25 p.m. local time.
As of Saturday night, the cause of the fire and explosion remained undetermined, according to fire officials.
No firefighters were harmed while fighting the fire.
A local resident described experiencing “terror, sadness [and] worry” upon witnessing the smoke rising from the plant. Dan Gardner commented, “Explosions are bad, fires are bad. Quaker Oats is a staple of this town, so we don’t want to see them blow up.”
Another witness, Texas resident Emilio Esquivel, likened the scene to something out of a movie. “Seeing something like that was just eye-opening. It was eyebrow raising. It was crazy,” he remarked.
The Quaker Oats plant is recognized as the largest milling facility in the world, processing over 2 million pounds of oats each day, according to information from the company. Quaker Oats, owned by PepsiCo, is particularly known for its old-fashioned oats.
