LIBERAL, Kan. – Firefighters responded to a report of a fire just before midnight on Oct. 21 at National Beef Packing Co.’s beef plant in Liberal. According to news reports, the blaze was reported at 11:46 p.m. and nearby fire departments from Seward County and Turpin assisted in extinguishing flames, reportedly coming from a vent stack on the roof and inside the facility’s rendering building.
Liberal Fire Chief Kelly Kirk told The Hutchinson News the fire was under control just over an hour later, but firefighters monitored the affected area until after 2 a.m. The cause of the fire and the extent of damage were not reported.
“No injuries were reported and plant operations were able to resume quickly, except in the immediate area of the fire,” said the report.
According to Keith Welty, National Beef spokesman, operations at the plant resumed the following day (Oct. 22) with a delayed start time of two hours. The plant is operating as scheduled today, he wrote in an Oct. 24 e-mail.
More than 3,100 employees work at the facility, which spans nearly 776,000 sq. ft.
