Clinton (IA) Fire Chief Mike Brown confirmed the death of Lt. Eric Hosette in an explosion at Clinton’s Archer Daniels Midland plant Saturday. A second firefighter was in critical but stable condition in Iowa City Saturday night.

He said a fire call came in at approximately 5:45 a.m. Saturday. What firefighters thought was a stabilizing incident turned into an explosion. He said the call was unusual in that two separate shifts responded to the ADM fire.

“First shift got there and somewhat stabilized the incident,” Brown said. “And they traded off shifts at seven in the morning like we do every day. And about 8:45, what we thought was a stabilizing incident, there was an explosion.”

Hosette, a lieutenant who had been on the Clinton Fire Department for 12 years, was taken to Mercy Medical Center where personnel did everything possible to revive him but he did not survive.

Clinton Firefighter Adam Cain, 23, was found after the explosion. Cain, who has served on the Clinton Fire Department for almost two years, was flown to Iowa City where he was critical but stable as of Saturday evening.

Saturday morning’s incident took place at the third silo at ADM where employees discovered smoldering material in one of the silo storage bins at the loading facility at about 5:45 a.m. ADM immediately contacted the Clinton Fire Department.

While firefighters were on the scene, a couple of hours after the initial call, an explosion occurred in the silo, killing one firefighter.

thanks Ed

Tags: Clinton Iowa FD Lieutenant Eric Hosette, Clinton Iowaa FD Firefighter Adam Cain, fatal fire at Archer Daniels Midland Clinton Iowa platn, Fire Chief Mike Brown, Firefighter LODD