Staff Evacuate Blommer Chocolate Company After Equipment Fire
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A small fire at the Blommer Chocolate Company forced workers to evacuate the plant on Friday.
Fire officials were called to a fire at Blommer Chocolate, at Kinzie and Jefferson, just before noon.
"I just heard the alarm going and everybody rushed out. Maybe a little bit of smoke on one side of the plant," said one of the contractors working at Blommer Chocolate when the fire started.
He and about 80 employees had to evacuate.
To get out of the wind and cold, most of the went to the bar across the street, many of them still wearing their hairnets.
Deputy District Fire Chief John Giordano said a piece of equipment used to bag cocoa overheated and caught fire on the southeast corner of the fourth floor.
"They're in the process of opening up the machinery right now to get all the cocoa out and make sure there's nothing else smoldering inside the equipment," Giordano said.
Blommer Director of Human Resources Kathy Kull said the evacuation was smooth because they have done a lot of training.
"We make a great product. It's sad something like this happened. We don't know how, but we will investigate and we will correct. Absolutely," Kull said.
The Chicago Fire Department said there were no injuries.