Fire damages nut-drying operation

A fire broke out Wednesday night at a walnut dryer on Highway 108 near Langworth Road, between Riverbank and Oakdale.

According to Battalion Chief Paul Spani with the Stanislaus Consolidated Fire Protection District, the fire was reported between 9 and 9:30 p.m.

Nobody was injured, but the nuts and hulls made for concentrated fuel and the last of 25 firefighters who responded didn't leave until about 1:15 a.m. Thursday.

Spani said the cause has not yet been determined, but it may have stemmed from a mechanical problem inside one of the walnut dryers; firefighters had been called to the site before when a dryer malfunctioned.

Four engines and three water tenders worked the blaze.