Second fire in 3 weeks at Ingredion in Cedar Rapids

CEDAR RAPIDS — A worker “received thermal exposure but did not require medical treatment” Wednesday morning after a fire broke out at the Ingredion facility in southwest Cedar Rapids, according to a news release from the Cedar Rapids Fire Department.

Firefighters were called at 11:43 a.m. Wednesday to the facility, in the 1000 block of First Street SW, where they found a smoldering fire in a silo. Firefighters and Ingredion staff were able to limit the fire to a single silo, and it was extinguished by 3 p.m., the release states.

Operations at the facility were able to resume Wednesday afternoon, according to Rick Wion, director of communications for Ingredion.

This is the second fire at the facility — which manufactures sweeteners, starches and other ingredients — in the last three weeks.

A fire broke out in the facility Nov. 26 and burned for almost a week before being extinguished Dec. 2. That fire also was contained to a single silo and was handled mostly by Ingredion staff, with Cedar Rapids firefighters on standby at the facility just in case.

The plant resumed operations Dec. 3 and was “back to business as usual almost immediately” according to Wion.

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