Fire at Fergus Falls ethanol plant contained to dryer insulation
Heavy black smoke in a dryer at Fergus Falls’ Green Plains plant was quickly boxed in. Damage was limited to insulation, avoiding a wider industrial shutdown.
A dryer fire at Green Plains’ ethanol plant in Fergus Falls was contained before it could turn into a broader industrial emergency, limiting the damage to insulation and sparing the plant from a far more disruptive shutdown. The Otter Tail County Sheriff’s Office received the fire call around 10:00 p.m. Wednesday, May 27, after workers found heavy black smoke in a dryer during a start-up process.
That narrow outcome mattered. A fire that had spread beyond the dryer could have threatened workers on site, interrupted ethanol output, pressured local corn demand tied to the plant’s operations and sent smoke into a part of Fergus Falls that sits close to one of the area’s important industrial corridors. Instead, crews kept the incident confined to a specific piece of equipment, and officials described the damage as minor.
Green Plains’ Otter Tail facility sits at 24096 170th Avenue in Fergus Falls and is one of the region’s larger manufacturing operations. The company lists the plant at 55 million gallons per year of ethanol capacity and says it employs 42 people. Green Plains says the site broke ground in October 2006 and produced its first grind in March 2008, making it a long-established part of the city’s industrial base.
The quick containment also stands out because ethanol production is a major Minnesota business. The Minnesota Department of Agriculture says the state has 18 ethanol plants with more than one billion gallons of combined production capacity. A 2024 industry study estimated the sector generated $5.2 billion in economic activity statewide, underscoring how a fire at even one facility can draw attention well beyond Fergus Falls.
This was not the first time the Green Plains Otter Tail plant has dealt with serious fire trouble. In March 2014, a dryer-system fire at the same site led to an explosion, hours of firefighting and a temporary shutdown. No injuries were reported then, but the company said repairs to the dryer system could take about two months.
That history gives the latest incident added weight. Wednesday night’s fire appears to have been checked before it spread beyond insulation, a result that kept a local industrial scare from becoming a larger safety problem or a prolonged hit to one of Fergus Falls’ key employers.
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