[captain2k_ca]

Fire forces shutdown

No one injured but blaze forces production shutdown as Lamb-Weston forced to send employees home until further notice

By DAVE SULZ and RIC SWIHART

Lethbridge Herald

TABER -- A fire Thursday night at the Lamb-Weston complex east of Taber has shut down operations at the french fry processing plant until further notice.

The fire at the AmLog Canada storage facility was discovered around 8:15 p.m. Thursday by second-shift employees responding to an automated alarm.

AmLog is a subsidiary of AmeriCold Logistics, an Atlanta-based firm which handles frozen-food storage and distribution for Lamb-Weston.

No one was injured in the incident and the cause of the fire is under investigation. A damage estimate was not available.

Brad Mason, Taber emergency services director, said Friday the roof was fully engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived.

"You could see from a distance it was a significant fire," said Mason, adding crews were called from Lethbridge, Coaldale, Vauxhall, Grassy Lake and Bow Island to assist in fighting the fire.

While a breeze was blowing at the time of the fire, "the wind was in our favour," said Mason. "It was a prevailing west wind which worked in blowing the heat away from the rest of the facility. That made it easier for containment."

The blaze was contained by about 11:30 p.m. and was out by just after 3 a.m.

AmeriCold said a team from the company was assessing the damage and determining plans for restoring operations at the 166,000-square-foot facility, which stores frozen foods for a number of foodservice customers. Provisions were being made to provide alternative distribution services to minimize customer inconvenience.

Bob McKeon of Omaha, Neb., a Lamb-Weston spokesman, said Friday the plant will remain closed until alternative cold storage warehousing can be found. The company hopes to resume production next week, pending location of warehousing space.

The fire at the firm's french fry processing plant 13 kilometres east of Taber on Highway 3 caused only minor smoke damage to a warehouse on site. The fire was contained mostly to the AmLog operation. AmLog leases the warehouses from Lamb-Weston and contracts to store the frozen potato products until needed for sales.

"There was no fire in our building," said McKeon.

All employees were sent home and none were injured. The plant employs about 200 workers.

McKeon said there was no damage to any of the potato processing equipment or the french fry manufacturing space.

McKeon said there was some processed product loss but he didn't have any firm details.

Consumers, mostly restaurants served by the plant production, won't notice a hitch in product supply, said McKeon. Other Lamb-Weston plants can process similar products and have it in the hands of customers on short notice.