PHOTOS: Five workers were injured, one critically, in an explosion and fire at a hemp product manufacturing plant in Grass Valley Sunday afternoon, prompting a day-long evacuation of the entire Sherman County community and hours-long closure of U.S. Highway 97, authorities said. The blast and blaze were reported around 2:30 p.m. at Grass Valley Bio Farm, 212 NW North Street, according to Dana Pursley-Haner, Sherman County’s director of emergency services.
The facility makes products such as hemp oils, lip balms and salves, the official said.
“Initially, there was a first explosion in one of their side rooms, the extraction room” at the facility, roughly 80-by-100 feet in size, located in the former Grass Valley School, Pursley-Haner said.