HERMISTON, OR — An explosion at a food manufacturing plant owned by Shearer’s Foods, a salty snack, cookie and cracker co-manufacturer and producer for private brands, has injured multiple people.
The Umatilla County Sheriff’s Office and the Umatilla Country Fire District 1 were called to the scene yesterday afternoon after the employees reported the explosion. It is believed that a portable boiler fueled by natural gas is what caused the explosion, the Tri-City Herald reported.
The blast resulted in a large fire which shut down a portion of nearby Highway 207. A total of seven people have been treated for injuries and all remain in stable or fair condition, the communications director of Good Sheppard Healthcare System told Northeast Oregon Now.
The food company began in Ohio and expanded quickly, purchasing other snack food plants from various companies and acquiring other snack businesses including Lance Private Brands from Snyder’s-Lance. It’s Millennium Manufacturing Facility in Massillon, OH, was among the first snack food companies to be honored for its commitment to sustainability and environmental responsibility.
The Hermiston plant, the company’s only West Coast location, employs up to 400 people according to Hermiston city manager Byron Smith. It’s one of the top employers for the geographic area and supplies much of the Western US with potato and corn chips, he said.
“It looks like everything is indicating that it is going to be a big loss, and we don’t know what the parent company will decide to do,” Smith told the Herald. “But we know that 400 people roughly worked there, so it will have a big impact on the community.”
Smith also reported that the city is coordinating a job fair for Shearer’s employees to help them transition to another career as the plant damage is being evaluated.
