The Minnesota Department of Safety investigation into the Sept. 13-14, 2023 fire at the Hastings Cooperative Creamery is still ongoing. City of Hastings officials however indicated last week that their understanding is that it has been closed to the point where the site can be cleaned up.
The vacant creamery building had closed in August after 110 years of serving local farms and the community. City of Hastings officials are anxious to have the site, an eyesore on busy Hwy. 61, cleaned up.
The Hastings Cooperative Creamery closed Aug. 18 and its Dairy Store across Vermillion Street days later.
In June, the creamery was disconnected from the sewer system by the Metropolitan Council after the business reportedly leaked thousands of gallons of milk into the city sewer system. The Hastings Creamery was cited with six violations over the previous seven months.
The Hastings Creamery shutdown left 45 farms that it purchased product from to find other places to sell their milk.
State Rep. Shane Hudella of Hastings brought Hastings Creamery, City of Hastings and Metropolitan Council officials together last summer in hopes of coming to a solution and get the creamery in compliance with Met Council wastewater rules. For months prior to the close, the Hastings Creamery was transporting wastewater via tanker trucks to St. Paul to be processed.
The 11-alarm fire was called in at the Hastings Creamery, 1701 Vermillion St., at 10:34 p.m. Sept. 13. By the time fire crews arrived on the scene, large plumes of black smoke could be seen from the building. Moments later, flames enveloped the entire middle of the property. Firefighters controlled the blaze by about 2 am. Sept. 14 and were called to the scene days later for flare ups.
The investigation of the fire has not been concluded six months later.
“The Hastings Creamery Fire is still an open investigation, and a report has yet to be filed,” said Minnesota Department of Public Safety Public Information Officer Amber Schindeldecker on Friday.
That same day, Friday, Feb. 9, was the deadline given by the city for a plan to get the site cleaned up, Hastings Community Development Director John Hinzman said at the Thursday, Feb. 8 meeting of the Hastings Economic Development and Redevelopment Authority.
“The Hastings Cooperative Creamery fire investigation has concluded. The site’s been cleared for cleanup. We did give them an ultimatum of Friday for them to provide information on their cleanup plan,” said Hinzman. “I did speak to one of the people involved with the creamery before the meeting tonight. They were going to be working on some stuff tomorrow, some stuff next meek, which will make the site possibly a little more palatable. There’s still a lot of questions about what’s happening on that one. We’ll continue to push to get answers on that.”
HEDRA Director Peggy Horsch asked, “Is the owner of that lot looking to rebuilding something there? I would assume there’s a lot of contamination due to the fire and everything else.”
“There’s more questions than answers at this point,” Hinzman said. “I don’t know what might happen there, whether the cleanup would involve demolition of the building or what might happen in the future on that site.”
