(KAIR)--The investigation continues into Saturday night's small explosion that left an MGP Ingredients warehouse facility damaged. “It was relatively easy to see where the explosion had originated,”  Atchison Interim Fire Chief Ted Graf tells MSC News. “It had originated from, we'll just call the baghouse, which is the top of a large tank that they use in the sifting process for a starch type product.” 

Graf says the company will utilize an investigative team to make the official determination regarding exactly what happened. “MGP will bring in engineers, and also their insurance company, to further investigate that.” 

The late Saturday afternoon blast at the 13th and Commercial Streets facility blew through the west wall of the building, leaving rubble on the nearby street. “Many people probably saw a lot of debris and a a lot of siding from the building that was laying out on 13th Street,” Graf says. “That's kind of what the building is designed to do. It is designed to kind of shed it's siding rather than the explosion in a more solidly built building, the blast could be a lot greater because it's not allowed to escape out the side like it was in this particular building.”  

Despite initial reports indicating the building was unoccupied at the time of the explosion, Graf says there was an employee inside who was not hurt. “They were not in the immediate area of the blast. There were no injuries reported.”

The explosion happened shortly before 5:00 Saturday afternoon, with firefighters remaining on the scene for around 4 hours after they initially rushed to the location. “We also remained there while Marlatt Construction cleared the debris from the street area. Debris had damaged a car that had been parked on 13th Street as well as knocked over a utility pole.” 

Flames were never visible from the outside, with Graf saying the investigation indicates there was a initial flash fire, with the activation of the building's sprinkler system indicating a small fire had burned briefly inside. 

Atchison-based MGP is a distiller of spirits and specialty wheat proteins and starches.