No injuries in Farmland Foods plant fire

No one was injured in a fire at a Farmland Foods Inc. processing plant in Lincoln, Nebraska, that began in a storage room filled with flattened cardboard used for packing, local media reported.

The plant resumed operations this morning, and no products were damaged, a company spokeswoman said.

The fire began at about 2:30 p.m. in a second-floor storage room filled with bales of flattened cardboard stacked five to 10 feet high on 20 pallets, city fire officials told the Lincoln Journal Star. Investigators had not determined the cause of the fire but had ruled out electrical issues.

“Thankfully, no one was injured in the fire. The origin has not been determined at this time. The plant resumed operations this morning. No product was damaged. Firefighters quickly put out the fire, and we are currently assessing damage to the facility,” Keira Lombardo, a spokewoman for Smithfield Foods, which owns Farmland, said in an email.

The plant’s fire system detected the fire, setting off sprinklers, and firefighters battled heavy smoke, heat and steam as they tore apart layers of cardboard to get to the center of the fire, fire officials told the paper.

The Lincoln facility, known as the Cook’s Ham plant, produces bone-in hams and corned beef and employs about 500 people, according to Farmland Foods’ website.