Fire damages sugar beet coop in Renville Saturday

Fire damaged a large pellet bin at the Southern Minnesota Beet Sugar Cooperative in Renville.

According to KWLM, the Renville Fire Department responded Saturday at about 9 a.m. to a fire at the pellet end of the processing plant. They received mutual aid from the Willmar and Redwood Falls Fire Departments, which provided aerial trucks, as well as fire crews from Danube, Sacred Heart, Olivia, Bird Island, Prinsburg and Granite Falls.

No one was injured in the blaze and fire crews have remained at the scene in case of flare ups. There had been earlier fire calls at the plant on Thursday and Friday of last week before Saturday’s fire.

The Renville Fire Department says due to the amount of pellets, the type of structure that holds the pellets and the structural integrity they were unable to completely extinguish the fire, and are still working with SMBSC to handle the situation.