MONROE — During a press conference Tuesday afternoon, local officials said the investigation of a fire at Badger State Ethanol along West 17th Street was still ongoing. 

Monroe Fire Chief Dan Smits said the state Division of Criminal Investigation and officers from the Monroe Police Department were on scene that day, and anticipated the company’s insurance company would also be looking into the cause of the fire, which remains unknown. 

Green County Emergency Management Director Tanna McKeon said there were about eight people at the plant at the time of the fire. There were no injuries, which BSE Plant Director Erik Huschitt said the organization was thankful to discover. 

There were also no hazards to the public. Smits said the fire was “pretty well confined.” 

McKeon said the call about a fire in a ground corn silo was received at 5:41 a.m. The Green County Sheriff’s Department sent a drone for better viewing, and McKeon said it revealed a slow burning fire.

The distillers grain product is a protein-based corn byproduct feed. The silo has a maximum capacity of 2,200 tons, but was only about 40 percent full.

During the press conference, Huschitt said he was also grateful for the quick response of emergency personnel. Both Huschitt and Smits said the incident serves as part of an ongoing learning experience to make plants like Badger State Ethanol safer. 

“We’re 100 percent financially committed to making that plant as safe as it can be for this community and the people who call that their daily bread,” Huschitt said, adding that there are fire suppression systems in place and mapping of the plant has been done. “We are continually evolving to find if there’s anything else that we can be doing. Obviously, we’ll do a lot of self-evaluation on what else we can do to make sure this never happens again. We know there’s one thing that’s important at the end of the day, and that’s that nobody gets hurt. Our priority is the safety of our employees; nothing matters more than compromising that, so we will never operate in a non-safe (environment). We don’t just talk it, we live it.”

Smits said everyone followed the policy set in a detailed emergency plan and was glad to see company officials quickly account for all employees. 

Though the plant was shut down Tuesday, it poses no threat to the public, Smits said. In fact, it was closed “out of an abundance of caution,” and that the plant could have likely continued operating without an issue, he added. The goal of shutting down the plant, which was decided by a “team meeting” of experts, was to isolate all electrical sources from the area of the fire.

Huschitt said the closing of the plant should not impact any local markets, expecting “minimal to no impacts to any markets, whether it be corn, ethanol or the feeds that we make here.”

Smits credited the South Wayne Fire Department for its quick response to aid Monroe Fire Department. New Glarus Rapid Intervention Team, Monroe Police Department, Green County Sheriff’s Office, Green County Emergency Management, Monticello Fire Department and Orangeville Fire Department were also on scene.

Smits said the Mutual Aid Box Alarm System “really pays off,” because of quick group collaboration by a number of agencies. 

Investigation of the fire remains ongoing. Smits said plant officials and firefighters plan to convene at the silo Wednesday to begin removing material from it. 

— Emily Massingill contributed reporting for this story.