Manufacturing, Manufacturing Plant Jordan, MN – Welding fire knocked down by sprinkler system at transformer plant February 1, 2017 viking210 Firefighters and Jordan Police Department officers were dispatched for a call of a commercial fire inside Jordan Transformer on the afternoon of Thursday, Jan. 26. A tarp caught on fire as an employee was welding inside a plant welding shop. The call came in at 11:37 a.m. and the Jordan Fire Department responded with 17 firefighters, according to Gregg Pekarna, fire chief for Jordan Fire Department. Jordan Police provided backup, and when the officers arrived on scene, heavy smoke was billowing out from the plant building. Officers provided traffic control and assisted the Jordan Fire Department, Jordan Police Chief Brett Empey said. By the time firefighters arrived on scene, the fire was mostly extinguished by the building’s sprinkler system, Pekarna said. “There was nothing suspicious about it — the tarp caught on fire — the sprinkler did the job and knocked out the fire, and we mopped up after that,” Pekarna said. At the fire location was a nearby adjoining wall that had a rack of welding gas that the fire fortunately did not touch, Pekarna said. The Jordan Fire Department remained on scene for two hours during cleanup and to make sure the fire remained completely extinguished.“ The team (Jordan Fire) did a great job responding and containing it after the sprinklers,” Pekarna said. Jordan Transformer staff were all evacuated from the building as a precautionary measure, the fire chief reported. No one was seriously injured, although one individual was treated at the scene for possible burns and smoke inhalation, Pekarna reported. The estimated loss is not known at this time. Jordan Transformer declined to comment on the fire.
