More than $2 million in damages was caused by fire at a Merced County cheese plant on Saturday.
According to the Fresno Bee, fire hit the plant operated by Hilmar Cheese Company, one of the largest cheese producers in the state.
The fire affected mostly the pump systems at the plant and is believed to have been caused by mechanical failure, the newspaper reported.
Fire erupted inside one of the company’s three cheese plants and took firefighters nearly two hours to extinguish CALFIRE Battalion Chief Baraka Carter told the newspaper.
The building affected by the blaze includes an assembly line that compresses cheese. The chief told the newspaper there was damage to the building, equipment, machinery and cheese products.
The plant and the visitor’s center, which includes a café, were evacuated during the fire, the newspaper reported. Two other plants remained operational.
Hilmar Cheese Company produces about a million pounds of cheese per day at two plants, one in Hilmar, CA, and another in Texas.
