An explosion and fire at Defiance’s Glycerin Traders plant on Greenler Street was reported just before 4 p.m. Wednesday.
One person was injured and was taken to Defiance Regional Medical Center, according to a law enforcement officer.
The roof and backside of the plant at 8:15 Greenler St. appeared to have been significantly damaged. City firefighters responded with an aerial ladder truck to help douse the resulting fire.
A grass field just east of the plant also caught fire and required the attention of firefighters.
City police blocked a number of side streets to keep people out of the way and to allow first responders to handle the situation.
Defiance County’s hazardous materials team was called in to help mitigate the incident and the state fire marshal’s office was contacted to investigate.
In addition to Defiance, several fire departments were called to the scene, such as Highland Township, South Richland, Noble Township, Sherwood, Continential, and possibly others.
A neighbor who lives at 812 Ottawa Ave., just west of the plant, told The Crescent-News that the explosion blew her front screen door open. She then saw smoke and fire from the Glycerin Traders plant.
Further details were unavailable late Wednesday afternoon.
According to its website, Glycerin Traders “specializes in the trading of various grades of glycerin, vegetable and animal fat (for biodiesel plants and other uses), mixed alcohol, multiple types of feed ingredients, including jam, sugar, maple syrup, BBQ sauce, etc., and most other recyclable, organic ingredients.”
The company has a plant in LaPorte, Ind., in addition to the Defiance facility which has been in production under Glycerin Traders’ ownership since late 2012, according to its website.
However, the Defiance site had operated as a biodiesel plant before that, and was the subject of an explosion in January 2008 when it was known as American Ag Fuels.
Three persons were injured in that incident, one seriously.
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