Nestle Food Plant Heavily Damaged in Fire

A Nestle frozen foods manufacturing plant in Jonesboro, AR was heavily damaged in a fire that started Wednesday and burned into the following day, television news station KAIT reported.

Crews were dispatched to the scene at about 4:30 p.m. Wednesday and worked into Thursday morning to contain the flames, the broadcaster said. Workers managed to evacuate the structure without incident.

Jonesboro Fire Chief Kevin Miller told KAIT that a sizeable portion of the structure received “significant damage.”

The cause of the blaze is unknown.

Nestle announced a $100 million expansion project at the Jonesboro site in January 2021 to increase production of Hot Pockets sandwiches. The company opened the Arkansas location in 2002 shortly after it acquired the Hot Pockets brand.