Explosion, fire temporarily halts cereal production at General Mills plant

Production was temporarily halted at the General Mills cereal plant in Buffalo, New York after malfunctioning equipment exploded, causing a fire.

According to communications between fire crews, a fan in a hopper exploded on the 4th floor just before midnight (EST). Fire crews responded within minutes, but the fire had been extinguished prior to their arrival. Fire crews say that a "faulty motor in a hopper" exploded, igniting dust around the equipment which caused a fire.

The explosion forced the company to shut down all of their mills and power to most of their facility for a short time as a precaution. Production and normal operations began to resume around 12:15 a.m..

No one was injured. Fire officials estimate the damage to be around US$100,000.