New Ulm water supply adequate to fight fire

1 million gallons used, but foam brings fire

under control

By FRITZ BUSCH

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- Firefighters from New Ulm and several area communities sprayed about one million gallons of water and 650 gallons of foam on the fire that destroyed much of the Associated Milk Producers Inc. (AMPI) butter plant Wednesday night and early Thursday morning.

The City of New Ulm was well-prepared for the draw on its water supply. New Ulm has 8.5 million gallons of water in ground storage and another 300,000 gallons in two water towers on the hill.

"This town is blessed with a lot of water storage," said City of New Ulm Water and Steam Supervisor Allen Lamm. "We had no problems keeping up."

Within four minutes of the fire call Wednesday, New Ulm firefighters had three engines, a ladder truck, rescue truck, pickup and boat on the scene.

Sleepy Eye, Courtland and Lafayette firefighters were soon on the scene. Seventy-eight firefighters were on scene pumping 5,000 gallons of water per minute at the height of the fire, which ranged from 6 p.m. Wednesday to 4:45 a.m. Thursday.

The State Fire Marshal is investigating the cause of the fire, which was believed to have begun by accident.

The fire, which began near the ammonia cooling towers on the west side of the building, according to New Ulm Fire Chief Curt Curry, created many challenges. He called it the toughest challenge in his 16 years of fire service.

With lots of heat and smoke, the fire moved rapidly throughout the building, along its roof, burning asphalt and insulation. It spread to storage areas.

A concrete block wall collapsed. Butter oozed out of the building and rolled downhill towards the Minnesota River. It rolled out of the AMPI loading dock door like soup, according to Curry.

"We couldn't get at the wall due to the pre-cast construction," Curry said. "It was too dangerous to send anybody inside at first. We pulled it apart with a backhoe."

Later on, firefighters breathing with air bottles attacked the fire inside the building. A number of retired firefighters helped out by re-filling air bottles during the height of the fire.

"It was like a great big grease fire," Curry said. "It was extremely hot. We'd hit it with an aerial hose and it would flare up big time. We just kept pushing it around until more foam was brought in from Hutchinson and Mankato."

The Hutchinson Fire Department arrived at around 11 p.m. with flame-retardant foam designed to remove oxygen from the blaze.

The New Ulm Fire Department stocks 60-70 gallons of foam, aka halon, which is usually enough for house and garage fires, Curry said. Another 1,600 gallons of foam, which costs about $70 per five-gallon container, was available on the fire scene.

Early in the morning, firefighters took a defensive posture when Curry ordered all firefighters out of the building after he determined staying inside was too dangerous.

By 4 a.m., flames had not breached a fire wall down the middle of the burning building. About 650 gallons of foam were used before the fire was contained at 4:45 a.m.

Curry credited the New Ulm Street Department with doing an excellent job of diking and dumping sand on the butter that got up to 2 1/2 feet deep.

Lamm credited New Ulm and area firefighters with doing a great job. He said the fire provided a good test for the water system.

"All in all, things worked well. This fire department really impressed me. Good people and good equipment, Lamm said."

By Thursday afternoon, an occasional milk truck came and went from the AMPI plant.

A smattering of onlookers braved a cold wind to take photographs and home videos of the remains of the northwest corner of the butter plant. A diesel scoop shovel and skidloader moved around piles of sand and butter on First North Street.

(Fritz Busch can be e-mailed at fbusch@nujournal.com).