MONMOUTH, Illinois--- A large fire at the Farmland Division of the Smithfield Foods plant Monday kept at least 15 area fire crews busy.
Today, the fire marshal was out at the plant trying to determine the cause of the fire.
"They had their refrigerators and freezers were full so they have to do an assessment of what the food sources that they have there," said Lowell Crow, Monmouth City Administrator.
The fire started at approximately 5:11 on Monday, September 5th, 2016.
There is no word yet on what caused the fire and there are no reported injuries.
A nearby apartment complex was also evacuated due to the flames.
"We needed to evacuate because the plant was on fire and so we definitely did, we went to the park," said Ashley Cummings, resident at Prairie Pointe.
Smithfield Foods released the following statement about it's operations.
“Smithfield Foods will be operating the entire cold side of the facility tomorrow, September 7, 2016. All employees working on the cold side of the facility should report to work at their normal starting times. All Maintenance employees should also report at their normal scheduled shifts. There will be NO kill operations on Wednesday, September 7, 2016. Please stay tuned daily as the Kill Operations schedule is yet to be determined. “