Major fire in warehouse of food company in Oosterwolde

The major fire in the warehouse of the food company Tyson Foods in Houtwal in Oosterwolde, Friesland, is still raging. Local residents who had to leave their homes because of the smoke have now been allowed to return, a spokesman for the fire department reported.

The fire was discovered by an employee who was in another part of the company premises. However, no one was injured. The fire, which broke out at around 02:20 a.m., raged in a shed, which is an outbuilding some distance from the main building. The firefighters managed to prevent the fire from spreading to the main building.

At around 9.45 a.m., cranes were used to open up the industrial hall to gain better access to the source of the fire. This initially led to more smoke, which has now subsided. Nevertheless, the fire department recommended that residents should close windows and doors and turn off the ventilation.

It is expected that the fire department will need hours and possibly even all day to completely extinguish the fire. According to Omrop Fryslân, the fire was initially upgraded to GRIP-1, which means that various emergency services need to work together. On Sunday, however, the huge outbreak of fire was downgraded again to GRIP-0.

Firefighters are expected to take hours and possibly all day to fully extinguish the fire.