Fire at Cedar Rapids food processor quickly controlled

CEDAR RAPIDS - Cedar Rapids firefighters on Tuesday responded to the second industrial fire this month.

Crews were called to J Rettenmaier USA, a food processing plant at 725 41st Avenue Dr. SW, at 1:54 p.m. for a report of a fire in a food processing hopper. Responding firefighters encountered smoke and fire coming from the three-story hopper. The fire was quickly brought under control and no injuries were reported, according to fire officials.

The fire caused minor damage to a processing unit at the plant, fire officials said.

The Cedar Rapids Fire Department recently spent roughly two days at International Paper, a milling plant at 4600 C St. SW, after a fire was reported July 8 inside a storage and conveyor building. Public safety spokesman Greg Buelow said 950 'person hours” were logged by firefighters during operations, which included firefighters from outside agencies.