Farm Progress

Efforts to put out peanut storage facility fire have been futile.

Brad Robb, Staff Writer

January 7, 2018

1 Min Read
The Birdsong peanut storage facility was still smoldering on Jan. 4, 2018.Brad Robb

A storage bin belonging to the Birdsong peanut facility and buying point just off Highway 82 in Leflore County, Miss., caught fire around 7 a.m. on Dec. 29 and was still burning and emitting huge plumes of dark smoke on Jan. 5.

“We responded with two aerial ladder trucks and two pumper trucks and used foam to try to cool the metal structures where more than 25,000 tons of peanuts were being stored,” says Greenwood, Miss., Fire Chief Marcus Banks. “Some type of chemical reaction caused the fire to ignite.”

Greenwood fire department officials initially believed they could put out the fire by the weekend, but their efforts to do were unsuccessful and they have decided to let the fire burn itself out.   

In a statement, Birdsong officials said the facility was not in operation at the time of the fire and nobody was injured. The storage facility will be reconstructed and business operations will continue at the location. 

Birdsong will honor all obligations pursuant to the US Warehouse act and peanut storage agreement. 

The Leflore County Jail and the Technical Violations Center are located just across the field from the fire but were never in any danger.

Birdsong has six shelling plants and 85 buying points located in states across the Southeast, Mid-South and down into Mexico. It is headquartered in Suffolk, Va.

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