Massive fire at Taylor farms processing facility in California, authorities order evacuation

On Thursday, California officials issued an order to evacuate after a fire broke out at a Taylor Farms processing plant between South Main Street, East Alisal Street, Alisal Road, and Harris Road.

As was reported by the news publisher SFGATE, authorities suspect the fire started on Wednesday in a wall at the plant in Salinas in California and spread rapidly to the attic at the 225,000 sq ft processing plant, needing more than 100 firefighters to tackle the scene.

Deputy fire chief of Salinas, Sam Klemek, said that the fire at Taylor Farms has progressed to the extent that it may pose a significant threat of an ammonia explosion in the plant. The facility is expected to store about 40,000 gallons of ammonia. For that reason, the fire department has pulled back its units to a safer area and has started issuing evacuation notices for the areas in immediate proximity to the facility. The evacuation order came at 2 a.m as per the local time.


Officials are appealing to people who live beyond the immediate proximity of the plant to shelter in place, switch off fans, heat, and ventilation, keep pets inside and keep all the windows closed. Schools were also closed on Thursday.

So far, nobody has been injured due to the fire at the plant. The processing plant was closed when the fire broke out and didn’t have any people or produce inside. It was scheduled to open on Monday.

Taylor Farms is a primary producer of fruits and vegetables. Its headquarters is located in Salinas, California, approximately 60 miles south of San Jose and 110 miles south of San Francisco.

The evacuation announcement also said that the authorities might have to go for a complete closedown of about a one-mile radius of the U.S. Highway 101 in both directions.

The Fire department is requesting people not to take the highway and use Old Stage Road instead.