Unity Situation Given the All-Clear, Traffic Opened

Marshfield (OnFocus) – While offloading ammonium nitrate from a railroad car, workers heard a bang and saw some smoke at the facility, John Ross, Clark County Emergency Management Director confirmed.

In the interest of safety, the fire department was dispatched and conducted door-to-door contact within a 1/2 mile radius to advise people to evacuate as a safety precaution.

Central Fire and Central EMS, Clark and Marathon County Sheriff’s Departments, Clark County Highway Department, State Department of Transportation, Canadian National Railroad, Clark and Marathon Emergency Management were on-scene. Colby and Abbotsford police department also helped with traffic.

After determining that no chemicals were released, the danger was cleared and traffic was reopened.

“We appreciate the cooperation of everyone involved and we are glad it turned out to be a minor incident,” said Ross.

Official Release:

On June 2, 2020 at approximately 7:36AM the Clark County Sheriff’s Office Emergency Communications Center received a call from the ProVision Partners facility in Unity reporting an incident involving bulk dry fertilizer containing ammonium nitrate.

The caller reported hearing a noise and observing smoke coming from the top of an elevator being used to offload bulk, dry fertilizer from a railroad car and into a semi-trailer. Units from Central Fire and EMS along with the Clark County Sheriff’s Office responded and as a precaution residents in the village were notified to evacuate the area.

Units from the Colby-Abbotsford Police department and Marathon County Sheriff’s Office assisted with traffic control and rerouting of traffic on Highway 13 and other County Highways in the village. Owen-Withee-Curtiss Fire and EMS staged units to assist if needed.

The elevator was cleared of material and restarted without incident and units cleared the scene and residents have been allowed to return home as of 10:35 AM. Other assisting agencies involved in the response included Wisconsin DNR, Wisconsin D.O.T. Marathon County Emergency Management, Canadian National Railroad, and Clark County Emergency Management. There were no injuries and all units have cleared from the scene.

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