Major fire strikes two warehouses at peanut plant

Those furious thunderstorms that rumbled through Bladen County Thursday night may have caused a major fire.

Two warehouses went up in flames at the EJ Cox Peanut Plant near Clarkton and the Bladen/Columbus County line.

One of those warehouses was full of freshly fumigated peanuts, which made it even riskier for firefighters. They did manage to save the processing plant itself.

Bladen Emergency Management’s Mitchell Byrd estimates that as many as 20 fire departments from Bladen and Columbus counties responded.