GIBSON CITY — Fire crews cleared the scene of a blaze Monday evening that broke out in a soybean processing plant just after noon.
Thick smoke from the blaze could be seen for miles most of the day.
Gibson City Fire Chief Bruce Kallal said there was a small amount of smoke still issuing from the dryer when firefighters left.
“We’ll probably have to go back tomorrow or overnight,” he said.
Cause of the fire remains undetermined.
“I don’t know if it was an equipment malfunction. The folks at IFF don’t know either,” Kallal said.
“There was really heavy smoke from the beginning and not necessarily flames because it’s a fairly contained apparatus. And there was heavy heat from the piece of equipment itself.”
The plant, International Flavors and Fragrances, processes soybeans. Kallal said investigators with the company will determine what caused the fire.
He said he doesn’t know if the plant will have to be shut down for an extended period.
Fifty-three firefighters from eight departments assisted Gibson City fighting the blaze, which was called in at 12:37 p.m.
Ladder trucks from Corn Belt (Mahomet) and Paxton poured hundreds of thousands of gallons of water on the fire. Many firefighters were kept busy hauling water to the scene from a pond in the town’s industrial park, an IFF water source and from the city’s water supply.
Kallal said Heritage FS, DCT Trucking and Mueller Farms also trucked water to the scene.
The soybean dryer, which was detached from the main plant, is a metal-enclosed unit that Kallal said had “considerable fire and smoke inside.”
“And so we had to do an exterior attack because it wasn’t safe to be in there.”
He said firefighters did a hands-on attack on a conveyor feeding the dryer to ensure the fire would not spread to the plant.
There was no danger to neighboring structures. Kallal said the wind was not a factor fighting the fire.
Kallal said Red Cross, Gibson City American Legion, Murdocks Place in Loda and Marks on First in Gibson City brought food to firefighters.
Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley Superintendent Jeremy Darnell said the district canceled outdoor activities as a precautionary measure. Students were kept indoors “until the smoke trail has cleared “as it is currently spanning all three of our campuses,” he said on social media.
Other departments responding to the call were Elliott, Melvin-Roberts, Sibley, Saybrook, Cropsey and Bellflower.
