A Dairy Factory Fire Caused A Complete Butter Meltdown In Wisconsin

The dairy state of Wisconsin is well known as the land of butter and cheese, but last week firefighters in a small town north of Madison found themselves with more butter than they could handle.

CNN reports that a fire broke out at the Associated Milk Producers facility in Portage on Monday, January 2. As firefighters tried to extinguish the fire they were met by an abnormal obstacle — a flood of melted butter. The fire — whose cause is still being investigated — had apparently ignited below a butter storage space, causing the butter to quickly melt, and impede the work of the firefighters.

"The butter was running down like 3 inches thick on the steps so our guys were up to their knees trying to go up the steps to get to the top and they're trying to drag the hose line, the hose line got so full of butter they couldn't hang onto it anymore," Portage Fire Chief Troy Haase told WMTV. 

Portage firefighters were thankfully able to overcome the tide of butter, and no injuries were reported on the scene. However, there was extensive cleanup required for the incident.

The thought of melted butter might inspire joyful images of nutty browned butter, flaky pie crusts, and rich croissants, but butter can be just as much a bother as a joy. The city of Portage found that out for itself after the fire as the melted butter flowed into the sewage system.

The Portage Fire Department said in a Facebook post that the Portage Hazmat Team did its best to control the flow of melted butter using absorbent materials. Despite their efforts, CNN says that 20 gallons of butter still made its way into the community's sewage system, and even ended up in the historic Portage canal. Luckily, the great majority of that butter ended up in the town's wastewater treatment facility, and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources was able to clear it from the town's sewage system without any service disruptions.

While this event may seem like an abnormality, The Guardian points out that fires at food production facilities are actually quite routine. USA Today adds that this wasn't even the worst butter fire experienced in this region. In 1991, there was another severe fire at a meat and dairy storage facility in nearby Madison, per AP News.