WCIA's Simmy Wood reported on an explosion occurred at Archer-Daniels-Midland (ADM)'s processing complex in Decatur early Sunday morning. A "potential smoldering event" was discovered at an elevator around 6:30 a.m., prompting ADM to shut down operations and evacuate the complex. Despite these precautions, the elevator exploded an hour later at 7:30 a.m.
Fortunately, no injuries were reported, though the elevator sustained structural damage. ADM is working with the Decatur Fire Department to assess the damage and investigate the cause.
This incident is the latest in a series of fire-related issues at the Decatur location, including a significant explosion in September 2023 that injured eight workers, a fire in the corn processing plant in August 2023, a small fire in the soybean processing plant in December 2023, and a grain elevator explosion in April 2023 that burned three employees.
