Fire Put Out in Processing Plant Taylor Farms in Salinas

A 4 alarm fire that broke out at a Taylor Farms processing plant on Abbott Street in Salinas at around 7 pm on Wednesday evening, April 13 was contained sometime between 8 am and 10 am on Thursday morning, April 14, but fire crews stayed on the scene to monitor hot spots, while Hazmat teams were on site the rest of the day to assess any potential threats related to ammonia. An Evacuation Order was issued for an industrial area of South Salinas most of the morning and for over an hour during the afternoon impacting businesses, not residents, while a Shelter-in-Place Order was also put in place effecting for 35,000 people in South Salinas which included South of South Alisal Street to Spreckels Avenue and East of Main Street and Highway 68 to Hartnell Road before both were lifted by City Officials between 1 pm and 2 pm. Firefighters from the Salinas Fire Department and other agencies all over Monterey County responded to assist for numerous hours on Wednesday night and Thursday morning to put out this blaze. The Salinas Fire Department states that 85% to 90% of the Taylor Farms Processing Plant Building that caught on fire is a total loss. There were no workers from Taylor Farms in the Building when the fire began. The cause of the blaze is unknown and no injuries were reported.