Watertown, SD – Sprinkler system contains early morning fire at manufacturing facility

Watertown Fire Rescue crews responded to an early morning fire at the Terex-FGI manufacturing plant located at 2813 Piper Avenue on Tuesday morning.  WFR was called to the Terex plant at approximately 5 a.m. Tuesday morning after a fire had been reported inside the building. After all employees safely vacated the building, WFR crews were able to extinguish flames in one of the walls. The sprinkler system had activated and was key to keeping the fire contained to a minimal area.

Smoke and water damage to the building was extensive.  “It wasn’t your typical day for Watertown Fire Rescue,” Assistant Chief Don Rowland said Tuesday morning. “We usually don’t respond to three structure fires in one day.”  Rowland said crews were on scene for about two hours. He said there was a lot of smoke in the building and power was shut off to some parts of the plant. He wasn’t sure when Terex employees would be able to return to work but was hopeful it wouldn’t take too long. According to Rowland, the initial cause of the fire was a furnace in the wall. He did say the investigation into what caused the fire would be started this morning.