(Photo Courtesy Jessica Klatt)Sheldon, Iowa — A Sheldon feed plant experienced what appears to be heavy damage in an explosion early on Monday morning.
Sheldon Fire Company Chief Brad Hindt says that shortly after 5:00 a.m., firefighters were paged to Kent Feeds at 1500 RMT Avenue for the report of an explosion in the feed mill. When firefighters got there, they met with employees and could see visible damage to the east side of the tower in the north part of the facility. At that time, employees and firefighters shut down the utilities to that part of the facility.
Hindt says they requested O’Brien County EMA to respond to the scene with their drone to check for any hot spots in that area of the facility. Once on scene, the drone was deployed to check hot spots and the extent of damage, but nothing of concern was found in the facility.
The cause of the incident appears to be accidental in nature, as employees stated that they were in the process of starting up the grain dryer for daily operations when the explosion happened.
Hindt says Sheldon Fire was assisted by Sheldon Police, O’Brien County EMA, the O’Brien County Sheriff’s Office, and employees of Kent Feeds. He tells us they were back in service after about an hour.
