Fire in the rendering area of the Gibbon Packing plant Friday night caused an estimated $200,000.
Around 5:20 p.m. Friday the Gibbon Volunteer Fire Department was called to Gibbon Pack at 218 U.S. Highway 30 for a structure fire. Chief Rick Brown said the fire started in a machine in the rendering area of the plant where scrap meat and bones are ground up.
"It's a difficult machine to get to it where it was burning," he said.
Firefighters initially used water to knock down the flames, but then used foam because of the grease on the machine. The fire was contained to the rendering room.
Gibbon Pack had been shut down for three days because of flooding in the area. The cause of the fire is under investigation, although Brown said it may have started by spontaneous combustion.