Overview
- Firefighters detected unusual smoke around 3 p.m. Thursday at Alphia’s facility on Wall Avenue and found an active blaze inside a biscuit-baking oven on the second floor.
- The plant was evacuated under a full structure response, and nearby roads closed temporarily before reopening later.
- Teams battled heavy smoke, zero visibility and ventilation challenges, controlling the fire in about 4.5 hours and securing a fire stop by 8:30 p.m.
- Smoke traveled through the oven’s ducting, delaying detection, and product that migrated to a storage silo complicated access and suppression.
- Officials estimate $3 million in damage, the exact cause remains under investigation with Alphia, and the factory experienced a similar incident earlier this year.