Firefighters continued this morning to fight a fire that broke out Wednesday night in a sunflower bin at the Sun-Opta processing plant in Breckenridge, Minn.
Assistant Fire Chief Brian Conzemius said the blaze was reported at 9:40 p.m. and became intense for a little while, but now the sunflower seeds are smoldering.
"We're planning to go out there shortly and they're planning to cut a couple holes in the bins and empty some of the product out, and hopefully we can get it out," he said about 7:45 a.m.
Sunflower seeds were piled 12 to 15 feet high around the edge of the roughly 200,000-bushel bin, he said. Part of the bin's roof collapsed, making it difficult to get water to the burning sunflower seeds.
"We used in excess of 100,000 (gallons of water) ... to protect the bins next to it and get the heat dissipated," he said.
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Firefighters from Dwight, Minn., and Wahpeton, N.D., assisted at the scene.
Authorities said the cause of the fire is unknown at this time.
