For more than 30 years, much of John Wojszynski’s life was secure.

But in a matter of a few minutes on July 8, 2001, that security was pulled from underneath him.

On that day, he said his source of income, insurance and many friendships went up in flames as the Farmland Foods plant in Albert Lea caught fire.

The fire damaged the facility beyond repair, and the company chose not to rebuild there.

Wojszynski, an Albert Lea resident who worked in Farmland’s quality assurance department, was one of hundreds of employees who were instantly out of work.

“It was like a death in the family,” he said, looking back. “You lose your income, you lose all the friends you’ve had there, and you lose all that in one day. You just got this hollow feeling.”

Ten years later, he said, the memories are still fresh in his mind.

“It was a real surreal experience,” Wojszynski said. “You’re looking at this place burning, and you know it’s burning but you don’t believe it. It was like watching (the terror attacks on Sept. 11) on TV. You see it happening, and you know it’s real, but you don’t believe it.”

Many have called the fire a notable moment in Albert Lea’s history.

Farmland Foods, a meat processing plant, was the second-largest employer in the city.

How it started

Albert Lea Fire Inspector Doug Johnson said it was hard to say how long the fire was burning before authorities were notified.

Some workers were cutting ceiling sprinkler pipes in preparation for a plant expansion, and sparks from the cutting torch ignited nearby cardboard boxes and timbers. Because the pipes were being worked on, they were inoperable.

Johnson said at about 4:45 p.m. the workers had quit for the day, but at around 5 p.m., some of those same workers noticed smoke.

They called 911 at 5:02 p.m., and the fire department arrived at 5:07 p.m.

That means, Johnson said, it burned for at least 22 minutes — if not more — before authorities were on the scene.

When firefighters arrived, they set up a perimeter attack.

When Johnson got there about 40 minutes later, he recalled a greenish-brown smoke billowing out of the loading dock area, numerous emergency personnel and many by-standers. Hoses were strung up all over the place, he recalled.

Ultimately, the whole center third of the building was gutted.

Fighting the fire took two whole days and part of a third.

“We were just really lucky nobody got hurt,” Johnson said, noting that there was only a partial shift of employees working that day. Had the plant been full, it might have been a different story, he said.

Fire Capt. Lee Devries said by the time he arrived, (he had been out of town at the time), he was overwhelmed with the scope of the blaze. He remembers the support he and his fellow firefighters received from agencies including the Freeborn County Red Cross and the Salvation Army.

Two hundred forty-seven firefighters from in and around Freeborn County fought the blaze.

Johnson said it was by far the highest dollar loss he’s investigated.

“This will probably go down in history as the big fire in the city of Albert Lea,” Johnson said.

He noted that certain parts of that building were more than 100 years old, and the building had been added onto, sometimes without proper permits. It was difficult for firemen to know the building well because there was not an up-to-date map.

Fire Capt. Mark Roche said firefighters worked long hours before taking a break, but they worked well together.

He noted he went 18 hours before leaving the scene.

“It was a hole in the community,” Roche said. “So many years of seeing that plant there, and then it was gone. We’re still waiting for that day for that lot to become its next life.”