Fire damages Tyson Vicksburg plant; no one reported injured
Published 9:53 pm Friday, February 17, 2017
- Vicksburg and Warren County area fire departments work to extinguish a fire at the Tyson Foods plant Friday night. The fire occurred around 6:30 p.m. No cause was determined at press time. (Courtland Wells/Vicksburg Post)
An explosion rocked the Tyson Foods plant at 1725 Interplex Circle Friday night, causing a fire and forcing evacuation of the plant’s Fulton Building.
Firefighters from the Bovina and Culkin Volunteer Fire departments and the Vicksburg Fire Department responded to the fire, which was reported to Vicksburg-Warren 911 about 6:30 p.m.
No one was injured in the fire, Warren County Sheriff Martin Pace said.
Mike Jones, a maintenance worker at the plant, said he was sitting in the building when he heard the explosion, adding it shook the building.
“I went outside the second break room and looked up and it (the roof) was engulfed inflames,” he said.
He said he used his radio to sound the alarm and get people to evacuate the building. Plant employees lined Interplex Circle in small groups as they watched firefighters.
Smoke and fire was visible on the building’s roof as firefighters worked to get the fire under control. Deputy Bovina fire chief Tim Bordelon said firefighters cut off the fuel supply to the boiler room, where the fire was believed to have started. The cause of the fire was undetermined Friday night. “We’re (the volunteer firefighters) are attacking from the ground, and Vicksburg has its aerial truck and attacking it from above,” he said about 7 p.m. “We’re trying to protect the building and keep the fire from spreading. We’ve got it contained to one area and we’ve almost got it under control.”
Attempts talk with plant officials at the scene were unsuccessful. One manager referred all questions about the fire to Tyson’s corporate headquarters in Springdale, Ark.