News

1 dead, 2 missing after Wisconsin corn mill explosion

One person died, two people are missing, and a dozen more were injured when a corn mill exploded Wednesday night in Wisconsin.  The Didion Milling facility had at least 16 employees on duty when the explosion and fire happened.

Wisconsin Corn Promotion Board member Cal Dalton farms nearby and sells his corn to Didion Mill.  “Didion Milling has been in the Cambria community for over 30 years and it’s been a really good source for family corn farmers like ours in the area for marketing our corn.  They’ve since built an ethanol plant which has created more opportunities for us.”

Dalton says the loss of that mill will impact farmers throughout the region.  “It’s going to take away a lot of our market because looking at the newsreels this morning and being familiar with the plant, it’s probably going to be shut down for quite some time, the milling part.”

 

Dalton knows many of the Didion Million employees and the area first responders that were called to the scene and says it’s a tragedy affecting the whole community.

Didion Milling is based in Johnson Creek, Wisconsin and produces cornmeal, corn flours and corn grits at Cambria as well as ethanol at their Town of Courtland plant.

Village President Glen Williams told reporters the initial blast leveled a four-story structure that housed the laboratory, and a smaller second explosion happened about 20 minutes after that.  The cause of the explosion is under investigation.