By paNOW Staff

PHOTOS: Explosion at Louis Dreyfus plant in Yorkton

Oct 24, 2014 | 10:08 AM

A grain processing building has exploded resulting in a fire at the Louis Dreyfus canola crushing plant on the west side of Yorkton.

It happened around 8:30 a.m. and police, fire and ambulance crews are currently on the scene.

Yorkton Mayor Bob Maloney told paNOW the fire is out and all employees are accounted for. There are no clear details on any injuries but some reports have said one person had a minor injury.

Margo Grey is working just a few blocks away from that area.

“There was a loud boom and the building shook,” she said.

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Maloney says it was most likely a grain dust explosion. 

Yorkton resident Charlie Mintenko passed by the Louis Dreyfus plant after 10 a.m. He said the fire was out but describes the damage, saying it looked like it happened at a building in the receiving area.

“There’s a lot of damage, especially on the roof area, and I saw part of the roof blowing away in the wind some of the steel, so yeah the damage is higher up,” he said.

Julie Fisowich at the Saskatchewan Science Centre explains that grain dust is a very tiny flammable particle and because it’s surrounded by oxygen, all it takes is a spark to make it explode.

“Something like this can happen at any place where there is lots of small particles like flour mills or anything like that,” she explained.

In fact the science centre used to do an experiment with kids showing demonstrating a grain dust explosion with a small model grain elevator.

“If we had the grain dust sitting there, nothing too much would happen but as soon as you add an airflow of oxygen it would actually cause a reaction,” she said.

Check back for updates on this developing story.

news@panow.com 

On Twitter: @princealbertnow