January 5, 2023

"A fire that broke out a Wisconsin dairy plant on Monday night sent a river of melted butter flowing across the factory floor and into nearby storm drains..."

"... where it clogged a historic water artery.... 'The butter runoff and heavy smoke slowed access to the structure,' officials said... 'When we first tried to go up the stairs to that part that collapsed, this stuff, the butter, was running down like, three 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 on to it any more.'"

The Guardian reports.

41 comments:

Original Mike said...

There was a similar incident at a refrigerated warehouse on the east side of Madison a couple of decades ago, near the intersection of Cottage Grove and Stoughton Roads. Filled an adjacent drainage ditch with congealed dairy fat. Quite a mess.

Gusty Winds said...

Hopefully somebody thought to bring some baked cod or lobster to the butter fire.

melk said...

Apparently lobsters were rushing to the scene

mikee said...

Warning: rodents love butter. Prepare for a rodent infestation, perhaps even - dare I say it -
rodents of unusal size.

Tina848 said...

Clogging the arteries of access and egress....

Big Mike said...

@Althouse, the story’s in the Gauddian. . You and Meade live in Wisconsin. So is it true?

Joe Smith said...

Never five pounds of lobster around when you need it...

ALP said...

Where is The Monarch and his Butter-Glider when you need him!

(Anybody recognize the reference without Googling?)

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Pro Tip: The only solution is a huge stack of biscuits from Chik-Fil-A to toss down the drains and melt the butter. If you run out of biscuits pancakes rom IHOP make a good substitute, but can't be used on 4" pipe.

JK Brown said...

hoses so full of butter the couldn't hold on to them? Really, perhaps maybe coated with butter?

Butter up to their knees pouring down steps? Color me skeptical that anyone could stem such a tide. Perhaps butter getting on them up to their knees as they slogged up the flowing mess?

And elsewhere, the river was clogged with melted butter? Perhaps the river was clogged with melted butter that solidified in the cold?

Journalism? Competent writing? Seems more likely written with emotional trigger words with not stopping to consider rationality.

Wince said...

Don't worry.

The state of Maine is sending Lobster!

Kevin said...

Butter clogs artery. Film at 11.

Earnest Prole said...

Three inches thick! Wait till you hear about the Boston Molasses Disaster.

MikeD said...

This is funny! When the interweb pushes articles to you, you end up reading about a local (WI) matter in a British left-wing tabloid.

traditionalguy said...

All they needed was toast, bacon and eggs. Heaven on earth. A giant outdoor Waffle House. What fool called the Fire Department guys?

Dude1394 said...

Yummy the bigger fish and the herons say. Butter with my minnows and shrimp.

NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...

Dawn. Lots of Dawn. Accept no substitutes.

Rabel said...

Hobbit firemen?

John henry said...

Butter wa 3 inches deep AND up to their knees?

Sounds like some really short people

John Henry

Joe Smith said...

'Warning: rodents love butter.'

Everyone and everything loves butter.

I've been to Wisconsin a number of times. From my observations, Meade and AA have the lowest BMI of anyone in the state.

If you're a 5'10" man and under 200 pounds, you are an underwear model in WI...

pacwest said...

Oh Baby!! Heaven on earth. You wouldn't happen to have a bacon processing plant nearby??

Joe Smith said...

Was it a fire or one of those little candle thingies that go under the dish?

RNB said...

Shades of the Boston Molasses Disaster of 1919!

PM said...

It's Parkay.

Old and slow said...

Sounds like the lead in to a porn movie.

RaleighDog said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Original Mike said...

"I've been to Wisconsin a number of times. From my observations, Meade and AA have the lowest BMI of anyone in the state.

If you're a 5'10" man and under 200 pounds, you are an underwear model in WI..."


Wisconsin resident here. My BMI is 20.2.

Just for the record.

Ann Althouse said...

""I've been to Wisconsin a number of times. From my observations, Meade and AA have the lowest BMI of anyone in the state."

You should check out Madison. People look very fit here.

Ann Althouse said...

"You and Meade live in Wisconsin. So is it true?"

I can't even tell you what's going on in the house next door. Do you think I'm psychic — with Wisconsin-specific powers?

Inga said...

I wonder if the air surrounding the dairy plant smelled like browned butter cookies, but seriously what a waste of butter. As for BMI…

Most Obese U.S. States
Mississippi - 40.80%
West Virginia - 39.70%
Arkansas - 37.40%
Oklahoma - 36.80%
Kentucky - 36.50%
Tennessee - 36.50%
Alabama - 36.10%
Michigan - 36.00%

Joe Smith said...

'You should check out Madison. People look very fit here.'

University town...I can believe it.

But I wasn't in Madison...and it was not pretty : )

maximusK said...

Butter's clogging arteries before it's even eaten!

Scotty, beam me up... said...

Gannett News…paging Gannett News…is Gannett News in Wisconsin’s house? This is a major story in America’s Dairyland and not a peep on my local Gannett newspaper’s website (my city is located about an hour away from Portage), which carries stories from all of the Wisconsin Gannett newspapers. From what I can tell, Gannett has gutted their local newspapers’ staffs to where they are useless for local and Wisconsin news. It’s amazing how often I find news stories from my “backyard” on British newspaper websites or the NY Post website. Hell, they don’t even bother to print the Green Bay Packers’ game stories until 2 days AFTER the game and not the day after like they used to do, which started happening about 2 or 3 years ago (and the Packers are the only topic that conservatives and liberals in Wisconsin can come together on in this day and age - you would think Gannett would give this top priority in their WI newspapers to get it in the print editions the next day).

Rick67 said...

New Ulm, Minnesota 2004. The only reason I know this is when my brother got married there and naturally we heard the story.

https://www.firehouse.com/home/news/10512007/new-ulm-minnesota-fire-butters-town-batters-plant

Tina Trent said...

Lots and lots of tiny dogs.

Josephbleau said...

"... where it clogged a historic water artery...." This is from the Guardian? "a" historic?? No A level students at that UK paper.

I wonder where this historic water artery is. Is it a state or a federal monument?

Michelle Dulak Thomson said...

Inga,

I do understand that the South is eeeevil, but it also contains the majority of Black people in the US. Could you maybe break down your stats by race? (There are massive -- pun intended -- numbers of fat white people in the South. Just wondering what would happen if the stats were broken out by race.)

Yancey Ward said...

People with toast invaded the small town.

Yancey Ward said...

People in Madison are all gristle.

Iman said...

It winds its way and empties into Land o’ Lake about 5 miles south of Velveeta Creek.

Iman said...
This comment has been removed by the author.