A portion of Highway 99 in Live Oak was closed in both directions Friday morning after a major fire broke out at the old Diamond Walnut processing plant, which is now vacant.
Sutter County Undersheriff Scott Smallwood said the fire started around 8 a.m. and residents to the north, south and west of the factory were evacuated while crews worked to contain the blaze.
“The walnut factory was the only item that burned, the residences surrounding it were kept safe by the fire department,” said Smallwood.
Responding fire departments used fire hydrants to obtain water throughout the city to put out the fire, according to Smallwood, and it was contained by 10:30 a.m. The structure, which was built in the 1920s, was destroyed by the fire.
Officials do not believe anyone was inside the plant at the time of the fire and no injuries were reported as of press time.
“But fire is still on scene putting out small fires that will start,” said Smallwood early Friday afternoon.
Smallwood said there is also a lot of cleanup that will take place in the days ahead in addition to the investigation into the incident.
Several area fire departments responded to the fire. Smallwood said the Sutter Fire Department and the Live Oak Fire Department were the main agencies to respond, with mutual assistance provided by Cal Fire from Butte County, the Linda Fire Department, the Williams Fire Department, the Marysville Fire Department and the Yuba City Fire Department.
Yuba-Sutter area California Highway Patrol reported early Friday morning that Highway 99 was closed from Pennington Road to Kola Street due to the fire but all three of the four lanes were reopened a few hours later.
