Warehouse Fire Destroys 11M Lb of PeanutsWarehouse Fire Destroys 11M Lb of Peanuts

Firefighters worked over several days last week to put out a fire involving 11 million lb of peanuts at the Premium Peanut warehouse in Douglas, GA, the Associated Press (AP) and several local news organizations reported.

The firm’s chief executive officer, Karl Zimmer, told AP that the fire started Tuesday evening, while Coffee County Fire Chief Steve Carver said the blaze ignited in an area of the facility that processes shelled peanuts into oil during the early hours of Wednesday. 

Premium Peanut describes the Douglas facility as the “largest single shelling facility in the world.” The company invested $14 million in recent years to build a new filtered crude peanut oil facility at the site capable of producing more than 3 million gal/yr of peanut oil, according to information on the company’s website. 

Firefighters remained on scene through Thursday to put out hotspots and clear out the millions of pounds of material, Chief Carver said in AP’s coverage. The fire official noted that the facility did not have sprinklers. 

An investigation has been opened into the cause of the fire. 

A fire at a Birdsong Peanuts plant in Georgia September 2018 led to evacuations of people living within a half-mile of the facility. Toxic gas was released after aluminum phosphide fumigation tablets stored in a warehouse made contact with water.

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