MONROE — Firefighters responded to a reported structure fire at a city cheese factory last Friday, March 14, and were able to limit the damage to small sections of an interior roof.

The call came in at 4:49 p.m., with Monroe Fire dispatched to the 600 block of 2nd Street for a commercial fire alarm “signaling multiple activated smoke detectors,” according to a statement from Capt. Dan Perdue. 

Monroe Police also arrived quickly on scene and reported signs of smoke and fire in the attic area. 

MFD’s Squad 6 and Truck 51 crews were notified that contractors —  performing some type of hot work in the attic — had to discharged a fire extinguisher for insulation that had ignited some of the roof rafters. 

“Firefighters made quick entry into the attic to extinguish any remaining fire,” said Perdue. “Firefighters ventilated the attic space and removed the damaged insulation. “

Two civilians were treated and transported by Green County EMS. There were no injuries to firefighters. Damage estimates were unavailable but characterized as “minimal” in nature.

“We had a really good response time on this one,” said Monroe Chief Al Rufer, who added that his department was on scene for about 90 minutes. “We were able to get into the attic right away to take care of it.”

The cause of the fire is determined to be unintentional and caused by insulation coming into contact with welding product. The contractors performing the work followed hot work safety practices and had multiple fire extinguishers available while performing the work. The quick use of the available fire extinguishers by workers greatly reduced the severity of the incident.

Fire units cleared the scene at 6:02 p.m.

“Thank you to our public safety partners, The Monroe Police Department and Green County EMS, for their assistance,” Perdue added.

— Gary Mays