Last Saturday evening, firefighters responded to a fire at a Perdue Farms facility in the South Norfolk area of Chesapeake, according to reports.
According to WTKR, the fire department received a call at 501 Barnes Road on April 30, 2022, after a plant operator at Perdue verified a fire at the location. Crews arrived to find a large soybean processing tank with flames showing from the top, and the fire was under control in approximately one hour.
WAVY.com indicated that no injuries were reported from the fire.
According to a report from the Associated Press, Captain Steven Bradley, a spokesperson for the Chesapeake (VA) Fire Department, attributed it to an equipment malfunction and said the fire was accidental and not suspicious.
The Associated Press report noted that reports of recent fires at such facilities have spurred online speculation about a plot using fire as a weapon to undermine the U.S. food supply.
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The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) recently issued a statement saying there’s no credence to Internet rumors that a number of fires at food processing plants across the country are suspicious or in some way linked.
