Tons of butter melted by a factory fire spread through the streets of New Ulm late Wednesday and early Thursday until it was overtaken by the chill of Minnesota's icebox weather.
On Thursday afternoon, amid the fatigue from hours of fighting the massive blaze, the slippery surfaces and the wreckage of the plant, even Fire Chief Curt Curry recognized some humor in the incongruous scene.
"We were looking for 40,000 loaves of bread at 2 o'clock this morning," he said, trying to wind down with a smile after working the intense fire all night.
Work crews used backhoes during the day to slice through a pond of partially resolidified butter that spread from the Associated Milk Producers Inc. plant.
Heat from the fire caused much of an estimated 3 million pounds of butter to melt, burn or seep out the loading dock doors. Some of it flowed three blocks into the Minnesota River before dikes were built to create a block-long pond that stood 2 feet deep in parts. That is when the Minnesota weather finally helped.
"Once it cooled, it gelled," said Greg Palmer, the fire department's second assistant chief. Most of the butter was contained to the block surrounding the plant.
It will be awhile before the extent of the damage is known. Firefighters fear some of their safety gear was damaged beyond repair. Streets remained closed for several blocks near downtown as work crews scraped up the slippery goo. And about 180 workers are left to wonder what will become of their livelihoods.
The plant is Minnesota's largest butter producer, company spokeswoman Sheryl Meshke said. The company runs about a dozen plants in four states.
It was too early to know what will become of the New Ulm site, the company's only butter plant, she added. The building was not completely lost and some butter was salvaged, she said. And about six workers were back on the job Thursday, accepting milk from farmers for other company operations.
Investigators have not determined the cause of the fire, which was spotted just after 6 p.m. Wednesday near the plant's second-floor cooling towers. About 30 employees were evacuated. When crews from the New Ulm volunteer fire department arrived, flames were visible on the roof, Curry said. The butter stored below began to melt. Much of it burned.
"It's like if you're cooking," Meshke said.
That only made it worse for firefighters from New Ulm and neighboring communities, who were already dealing with freezing temperatures and the slick mess created by the melting butter. The butter became a fuel. At first crews tried to pour water on the burning building. Finally, when they were able to collect enough fire-extinguishing foam, they sprayed the blaze and suffocated the flames. The fire was under control about 4:45 a.m. Thursday.
No one was injured, Curry said.
A relatively small amount of butter reached the Minnesota River through a storm drain, said Nancy Miller, spokeswoman for the state Pollution Control Agency.
Butter in the river was treated like an oil slick, with booms placed around a storm sewer outlet. The booms were hampered by floating ice. The butter that got through will break down naturally in the river, Miller said.
"It could have caused some dissolved oxygen problems in a different time of year because of how it would break down," Miller said. "But with the cold water and the amount of turbulence, there should be plenty of oxygen and it will naturally break up."
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