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Massive Fire Breaks Out at Wood Pellet Warehouse at Port of Brunswick

wood pellets brunswick
The remains of the wood pellet storage building at Port of Brunswick (Savannah Fire Department)

Published May 3, 2021 5:34 PM by The Maritime Executive

On Sunday night, an "explosion" and fire occurred at a wood pellet storage warehouse at the Port of Brunswick, Georgia. 

According to The Brunswick News, the municipality's fire chief described the event as an explosion at a facility operated by the Canadian biofuel company Logistec.

The first call to local firefighters came at about 2000 hours on Sunday. At 2100 hours, the Savannah Fire Department deployed with industrial firefighting equipment to help bring the blaze under control. The explosion took out the water main, according to the SFD, and pumping equipment was deployed to lift water from the river for fighting the blaze.

Bystander photos from Sunday night showed the building's metal structure glowing red-hot from the heat of the fire, with flames pouring out of the roof. The building partially collapsed overnight, and a video posted by the agency Monday morning showed smoke still boiling out of the structure.

The fire was brought under control by late morning, and the Savannah team has demobilized.

No injuries have been reported, and the facility operator said that there was no risk to the residential neighborhood located adjacent to the site. The apparent cause of the blaze was self-heating of the stored material, according to a brief statement from Logistec. 

A similar fire occurred at the same site in 2015, and it consumed a set of two wooden storage buildings. The metal sheds were built as a replacement.