FRANKLIN, Va. — At least 55 firefighters responded to a fire at the Hampton Farms peanut butter factory in Franklin Saturday afternoon.
Captain Tim Dunn, public information officer for the Franklin Fire Department, told News 3's Erika Craven the large response was so crews could rotate in for any heavy work.
"And there's just very little visibility in the plant because of the smoke from all that material being on fire right now," said Dunn.
He said a roaster caught fire.
"It's organic material. It was peanuts that were being cooked in a metal oven. No outside materials, no extra additives, so no hazmat," explained Dunn.
Dunn said they responded around 12:10 p.m. Saturday to the plant which sits along General Thomas Highway.
A plant manager told News 3 about 30 workers were inside at the time, though there were no injuries.
According to the Hampton Farms website, the business has been around for roughly 100 years and the plant in Franklin for 10 years. It produces peanut butter made from peanuts grown in the Virginia-Carolina Peanut Belt. The manager said they employee about a hundred people who are now waiting to see what the fire means to their operations.
Family of one employee told News 3 flames could be seen shooting from the roof and the fire fire possibly started in an exhaust system.
Dunn said crews are still working to figure out what exactly caused the fire.
Due to the nature of the fire, crews from several fire departments responded, including Suffolk, Southampton, Ivor, Sedley and Windsor, Isle of Wight, Carrsville and Boykins.
Dunn said there were no concerns with hazardous materials going into the air.
This is a developing story. Stay with News 3 for details.
