(Le Mars) — An industrial fire happened yesterday afternoon at the I-M-L Containers manufacturing plant located on the south side of town in the Le Mars Industrial Park. The alarm was sounded at about 4:25 p.m. and when firefighters had arrived, an air compressor had caught on fire producing heavy black smoke within the facilities. Fortunately, there were no injuries associated with the fire, and each of I-M-L Container’s employees were able to evacuate the premises
and escape the fire. Le Mars Fire and Rescue Department was assisted by the Orange City Fire Department. Le Mars Fire Chief Dave Schipper says the fire was confined to the second floor of the facility.
Schipper says the manufacturing plant suffered some major damage, although he wasn’t certain of the dollar estimate, but suspected it could run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
I-M-L Containers manufactures plastic containers used for ice cream, butter, margarine, and chip dips. Schipper says the high temperatures and humidity was also a concern for firefighters.
Sally Stodden is a shift leader at I-M-L Containers and explains what happened inside the plant.
Stodden has been employed with I-M-L Containers for three years, and says nothing like this has ever happened in the past. The shift supervisor says everyone followed the set procedure to evacuate the plant.
