OFS Brands sawdust storage facility catches fire

Huntingburg — A fire in a sawdust storage building attached to OFS Plant No. 18 immediately initiated a call for assistance Saturday morning.

Due to prior experience with the severity of this type of fire, the Huntingburg Volunteer Fire Department immediately called for assistance from Holland Volunteer Fire Department when the call came in around 9 a.m.

Fortunately, a sprinkler system in the unoccupied building slowed the spread of the potentially devastating fire when it extinguished a large portion of it.

Huntingburg supplied four trucks and 13 firefighters and Holland responded with 10 firefighters. During the five hour incident, Brewer Farms Inc. supplied front-end loaders to remove sawdust from the building to all firefighters access to where the fire originated.

According to authorities, a mechanical failure in an auger system is the likely cause of the fire.

OFS Brands employees assisted at the scene and a Memorial Hospital Emergency Medical Services ambulance was stood by for the duration. The Huntingburg Volunteer Fire Department Auxiliary also came out to provide food and drinks to the firefighters and employees working on the smoldering fire.