Emergency personnel respond to fire at Havco Wood Products

Firefighters from multiple local agencies responded to Havco Wood Products in Scott City on Thursday morning after a fire ignited in a silo.

The fire was dispatched to the Scott City Fire Department shortly before 7 a.m. as a thick morning fog limited visibility, and mutual aid was provided by the Cape Girardeau Fire Department, Jackson Fire Rescue, the Gordonville Fire Department and the New Hamburg-Benton-Commerce (NBC) Fire Protection District.

Police and medical personnel also responded to the fire, which took more than five hours to contain.

No one was injured in the incident, according to Kristen Daniel with Havco Wood Products corporate human resources. The company declined to make any further comments at this time.

According to Southeast Missourian archives, multiple silo fires have occurred at the plant in the past.

A blaze was sparked Dec. 14, 1994, after the company’s sawdust-vacuum system exploded twice, causing damage in excess of $100,000. Another fire ignited Dec. 5, 2000, inside a conveyor belt carrying sawdust and causing minor damage. No one was injured in either of the fires.

Another sawdust fire Jan. 23, 2003, burned for more than 16 hours before it was contained without injury early the next morning by firefighters from Scott City, Cape Girardeau, Delta, Oran, Morley, Chaffee and the NBC Fire District.

One worker at the plant received burn injuries when a fire ignited June 22, 2005, in two silos housing sawdust and wood chips and burned for more than 12 hours before it could be contained.

About five years later, fire crews answered two calls to Havco over the span of two weeks. The first fire call occurred in the early hours of Oct. 26, 2010, and halted production at the plant for two days. The second fire Nov. 9, 2010, was less severe and caused no significant property damage. Both of the fires in 2010 were contained without injury.