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Fire destroys Michigan corn facility

The Andersons, Inc. Hemlock, Michigan facility Photo: Jonathon Dent at Brownfield affiliate WSGW

A fire has destroyed a large corn storage facility owned by The Andersons Inc. in Hemlock, Michigan.  Jeremy Scott is the Richland Township Fire Chief. He told reporters, “The initial on-scene reports were heavy fire. The second alarm was struck immediately. That brought us multiple other additional departments and resources in.”

Jonathon Dent is a farm reporter for Brownfield affiliate WSGW in nearby Saginaw, who has been covering the story since late Sunday night. He tells Brownfield, “No cause is yet determined. They were talking about once they had a handle on things, they were going to get an investigation going. They were still figuring out who was going to handle that investigation when they had a press conference.”

Dent says so far, 29 fire departments from as far away as Detroit have been assisting local firefighters.  The fire is under control, but crews remain on the scene. 

It’s unclear how many bushels of corn were lost in the fire.