CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Several area emergency crews responded to a large fire at the Smith Gin Co-Op in Odem overnight Tuesday.
Crews from the Odem Volunteer Fire Department and other area fire stations arrived around 1 a.m. to find the business engulfed in flames.
This morning, smoke can still be smelled in the area in Odem.
According to San Patricio County Fire Marshal, Steven Loving the roof of the fire experienced most of the damage which caused it to cave in.
Loving added that employees at the co-op discovered a hotspot around noon on Monday inside of the cotton seed storage. Employees with Smith Gin began trying to mitigate the fire by removing both the burned and unburned seed.
Once the smoke began to get heavier it became unsafe for staff to continue, which resulted in local fire departments coming to assist.
"The fire contained to the main storage building itself," Loving said. "No reported injuries, currently in mitigation process to access the cotton seed to continue to extinguish it, and remove the unburned from the burned."
Loving said efforts could continue well into Thursday.
This is a developing story. Stay with 3News for updates throughout the day.
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