Two firefighters were taken to the hospital after responding to a third-alarm fire at ADM's corn processing plant in Decatur, Illinois, on August 28.
Emergency crews were called to the ADM facility around 4 p.m. WAND TV reported crews accessed the area and discovered heavy fire in a processing tank that was spreading into adjacent tanks. Firefighters worked to keep the fire from spreading to the rest of the structure while ADM employees injected steam and water into tanks.
At that time, the incident commander upgraded to a third alarm. Crews were on scene for 12 hours before the fire was completely under control.
According to the Herald & Review, the Decatur Fire Department confirmed eight trucks responded after a fire started in the feed house at the facility.
Two Decatur firefighters were transported to the hospital. One was treated and released and the other was admitted for observation.
ADM spokesman Dane Lisser said employees detected the fire during some maintenance activities. Employees evacuated and all were safe and accounted for.
This same facility had a small tank fire in October 2020 that occurred in the solvent extraction facility of the processing complex.
ADM's North American headquarters is located in Decatur, Illinois, which is the largest location and employee base for ADM globally. ADM has been in Decatur since 1939, when it began construction on the world's largest solvent extraction plant there.
