An explosion and fire tore through part of the Quaker Oats plant in downtown Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on Saturday, October 24, sending thick black smoke over the city. Firefighters were called at about 4:45 p.m. and found signs of an explosion and a fire on the back side of the facility, away from Interstate 380. Residents said they heard and felt the blast before the smoke appeared. The good news is that no injuries or deaths were reported, and officials said all plant workers were accounted for about an hour after the first emergency call. The mayor noted that the plant is not heavily staffed on a Saturday, which she called a blessing.

The facility is no small target. Quaker calls it the largest milling plant in the world, a 45-acre site that processes more than 2 million pounds of oats a day and employs more than 700 people. Firefighting continued into the evening, and the cause of the explosion remains under investigation, with owner PepsiCo saying it will look into what happened. Officials said the fire broke out in an area of the building that handled products, but they have not said how badly the plant was damaged or how long any repairs might take. The site has seen trouble before, since a 1905 explosion burned much of the original mill, which only adds to the questions about what went wrong this time.