By Carol Schreiber Review Staff Writer

At approximately 9:55 p.m. Saturday evening, alert employees at the Minnesota Soybean Processors plant near Brewster observed smoke in a soybean oil and biodiesel loading area on the property. The Brewster Fire Department was immediately informed of an emergency situation. Time coded security films of the area clearly show that smoke appeared just a few minutes prior to the emergency notification.

According to MnSP, the Brewster Fire Department responded in a timely and professional manner, and they were assisted by a number of area fire departments and law enforcement agencies to secure the area and to address the emergency. “We are grateful for their successful execution of emergency measures,” stated the press release.

The fire was limited to an area involved exclusively with the storage of and loading out of finished soybean oil and soy biodiesel. No explosion occurred and no injuries resulted from the fire.

The MnSP processing plant and biodiesel plant were shut down and secured and the employees evacuated. As a precautionary measure, residents of Brewster and those within a one mile radius of the plant were evacuated on Saturday evening. “We went door to door,” Nobles County Sheriff Kent Wilkening explained. His deputies, along with members of the Fire Department, evacuated the area as a precaution. Residents were allowed to return to their homes within a few hours.

Wilkening said multiple agencies assisted with the fire and the evacuation efforts. Several Fire Departments were on hand, as were members of the Jackson, Murray, Cottonwood and Nobles Sheriff’s Departments, the Minnesota State Patrol, the Worthington Police Department and the MN DNR.

”We apologize for the inconvenience suffered by the residents, but their safety is of paramount importance to Minnesota Soybean Processors and to officials of the local fire department,” added the official press release from MnSP.

The area of MnSP involved with the fire was well away from production facilities and well away from the grain elevator portion of the facility. Damage was limited to soybean oil and biodiesel load out equipment, to the insulation on a biodiesel storage tank and to a soybean oil storage tank.

Since the event occurred during a holiday weekend evening, only six employees were on site, no load out activity was occurring in the load out area and no employees were in the area of the fire.

Production is expected to resume at MnSP later this week and no layoffs of personnel are expected.