Firefighters extinguish blaze at Trail King

• Fire

Mitchell firefighters spray down a filtration unit at the Trail King plant Friday in Mitchell after the unit caught fire just before noon. (Chris Huber/Republic)

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Mitchell firefighters were called to the south end of the Trail King plant Friday in Mitchell after an employee reported smoke coming from a large dust collection and filtration unit outside of the building.

According to Capt. Ben Vanden Hoek, of the Mitchell Fire Division, the fire appeared to have started when a fine metal dust was heated within the unit and caused one of the filters to catch fire.

“It doesn’t appear as if this fire was negligent,” Vanden Hoek said. “I talked with maintenance people and they said the filters were rated for one year, and these specific ones were five months old.”

The unit, when operating correctly, purges fine metal dust that is created from torch tables used for cutting metal.

Employees were evacuated from the building and no one was injured.

“The hot metals were the biggest problem for us, but we continued to spray them and they eventually cooled off,” Vanden Hoek said, noting the fire took about a half-hour to get under control.

Vanden Hoek said the filtration unit is more than likely a total loss, and there could be a small amount of smoke damage inside the building.

A section of Spruce Street directly south of the fire was blocked off because north winds were carrying the smoke across the road, causing low visibility.

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