Five departments respond to Nutrien fire; cause unknown

    Smoke billowed and could be seen for miles last week as a chemical fire burned at the Nutrien Ag Solutions facility along Highway 6 in Lamar.
    The Jan. 11 fire drew nearly 50 firefighters from Lamar, Imperial and three other departments. The Imperial Volunteer Fire Department was paged at 1 p.m.
    Doug Mitchell, IVFD chief, said the Nebraska State Fire Marshal’s Office has determined the cause to be accidental and undetermined, “and it will likely stay that way.”
    That’s because the section of building in which the fire started eventually collapsed on top of chemicals inside. The chemicals have not been identified.
    Firefighters used limited water on the burning area to avoid hazardous runoff, Mitchell said.
    “We knew when we set up that water use would be limited. No one could enter the building because it collapsed with chemicals inside,” he said.
    A big focus of the firefighting was the area in between the buildings to the east—which included a shop/work area where it started, more storage area and offices—and a larger storage building on the west, which housed more chemicals, many of them in large drums, Mitchell said.
    The two buildings are connected with a breezeway, which was where most of the water was used to keep the building to the west cooled down, he said.  
    That breezeway is also crumpled from the fire and heat.
    It helped immensely, the fire chief said, that the west building with more chemicals was protected with a large fire door, “which did its job.”
    The heat did damage the large storage building to the west, however. Blackened residue can be seen on both its east and south sides. Mitchell said insulation and its interior also sustained some damage.
    Fire did get through and burned a small area of the large storage building, which was put out with fire extinguishers, Mitchell said.
    Later into the evening, as the fire spread eastward into the office area, Mitchell said they had to basically let it burn because of the directive to use limited water.
    “It was a bit overwhelming because we couldn’t put it out. The important thing was no one was hurt,” he added.
    For several hours last Wednesday, Highway 6 was closed from the Nutrien location west to the state line due to visibility issues.
    Mitchell said the fire was still active when most of the firefighters left the scene around 8 p.m.
    Using Imperial and Lamar firefighters and officers, a series of watch shifts was set up throughout the night and into Thursday until about 4 p.m., Mitchell noted.
    He and another officer returned Saturday to continue assessing the scene.
    During the response, four porta-tanks were set up at the site. The IVFD reached out specifically to the Holyoke, Colorado department, requesting its pumper, while the Grant  fire department supplied its air cascade system that has high pressure breathing air used for refilling breathing apparatus cylinders.
    Any firefighter getting close to the fire wore self-contained breathing apparatus equipment, Mitchell said.
    “We used a lot of air,” he said.
    Two ambulances with six EMTs from Imperial EMS were on scene and provided continuous blood pressure checks for the firefighters.
    In all 48 firefighters from Imperial, Lamar, Grant, Venango and Holyoke were on scene providing 434 man-hours of time.
    Mitchell said Nutrien brought in a crew to conduct the cleanup. Its regional and statewide safety directors were on scene, among others from the company.
    “They were very good to work with,” Mitchell said.
    The Red Willow Hazmat Team was on standby, but was never called to the scene. Highline Electric was on scene with personnel by 2 p.m. to shut off electricity to the property.
    The IVFD auxiliary and neighboring farmers provided refreshments to the volunteers on scene.
    Once firefighters prepared to leave, any of them close to or in the smoke were washed down with fire hoses in a preventative decontamination effort, Mitchell said.
    On Friday, 25 sets of firefighting gear, including boots, pants, coats and helmets, were hauled to Denver for professional decontamination.
    Mitchell said all of the gloves and Nomex firefighting hoods used at the Nutrien fire were destroyed. New ones have been ordered.
    Nutrien bought the former Lamar Fertilizer business along 314 Avenue and Highway 6 in November 2017.
Homes evacuated,
highway closed
    Residents were evacuated from four homes south of Highway 6, the direction the wind was blowing, for several hours after first responders were on scene.
    Chase County Emergency Manager Duane Dreiling said residents were evacuated due to not knowing what products  and chemicals were in the burning building.
    In addition, an emergency RAVE alert to shelter in place was issued to southwest Chase County residents including those in the city of Imperial.
    County Sheriff Kevin Mueller said Highway 6 and 315 Avenue to 312 Avenue were closed, and they were advising drivers to either turn around or find an alternate route of travel.
    “We recommended going a mile north on the county road and then west to the state line,” he said.
    Then at approximately 6:15 p.m., the Department of Transportation put up barricades to close the roads down. The highway was reopened at 7 a.m. the next morning.
    The State Patrol also sent a trooper to assist, he said.

Statement from Nutrien

    The following statement was issued by Nutrien Ag Solutions personnel after a contact by this newspaper for more information:
    “On Jan. 11, a fire broke out at our Nutrien Ag Solutions plant located at 73994 Avenue 314 in Lamar. Fortunately, we can confirm there were no injuries or fatalities. The safety of our employees, the community and the environment remains our top priority and a thorough investigation is being conducted into the cause of the event.”