Response crews worked overnight after Tuesday’s explosion at the Horizon Biofuels building in Fremont, Nebraska which left three people missing.
Fremont Mayor Joey Spellerberg confirmed during a news conference that a father and his two daughters were at the facility at the time of the blast. The children had reportedly accompanied their father to work ahead of a scheduled doctor’s appointment.
“We are doing everything we can, with every resource we have, in this situation right now,” Spellerberg said Wednesday morning.
Emergency responders, including Nebraska Task Force 1, are using heavy equipment to initiate a delayering process to locate the victims. Crews have struggled to access the building due to collapsed steel, according to officials. As of Wednesday morning, recovery crews were still battling a fire in the building.
“It’s been ongoing and the building is still on fire. We’re trying to start the de-layering process this morning with heavy equipment that we’ve had mobilized,” said Fremont Rural Fire Chief Carl Nielsen. “It’s going to be very slow. So as we peel pieces off, we’re going to be doing fire suppression at the same time as the search.”
Nielsen added its uncertain how long the recovery effort will last.
“We’ll be on scene until we’re done. As far as the timeline goes, none of us have any idea on that so far,” he said.
The explosion occurred just before noon Tuesday near Schneider Street and Cloverly Road. Horizon Biofuels, which operates under the name Elkhorn Valley Animal Bedding, manufactures wood pellets and animal bedding from waste wood. The company employs 10 people and is one of three commercial pellet plants in the state, with a production capacity of 20,000 short tons annually.
Multiple fire departments — including units from Nickerson, North Bend, Hooper, Arlington, Waterloo, Valley, Cedar Bluffs, and Scribner — have been on scene since the explosion.
The City of Fremont issued a clarification Wednesday afternoon stating there is no restriction on water use, refuting circulating rumors to the contrary.