FAIRFIELD, Ohio — The Butler County Coroner's Office has identified the man killed in a fire that broke out at the Koch Foods plant in Fairfield.
The coroner's office says 25-year-old Griffin Darrow was the man emergency officials recovered from the building hours after the fire on Sunday. The coroner's office ruled his preliminary cause of death as smoke inhalation, and the manner of death as an accident, according to the report.
Darrow had been considered missing after crews responded to the fire early Sunday morning. Fairfield Deputy Fire Chief Steve Conn told us the man's body was recovered Sunday afternoon; the Fairfield Fire Department said Darrow was an employee at the food processing facility.
Two other people suffered burns from the fire and were taken to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center; they have since been treated and released, according to the Butler County Sheriff's Office.
Conn told us Monday morning that several portions of the building's roof collapsed because of the fire, which made initial searches difficult for first responders.
The fire also briefly prompted a shelter-in-place order, Fairfield Fire Chief Tam Lakamp told us Sunday.
WATCH: Fairfield Deputy Fire Chief Steve Conn says the body of a missing man was recovered after the fire
Fairfield fire crews responded to the fire at the Koch Foods production facility on Commerce Drive at around 1 a.m. Sunday morning, the fire department said. Crews had received reports of an explosion and subsequent fire at the facility, but the cause of any possible explosion is still under investigation, according to Fairfield firefighters.
Ammonia tanks were inside the building at the time of the fire, and crews isolated them, Lakamp said on Sunday. He also said the building's entire roof was "compromised," and they were unable to access certain areas of the building due to the size of the facility.
The ammonia tanks prompted the Fairfield Fire Department and Butler County Emergency Management Agency to issue a shelter-in-place order for the two miles surrounding the plant. Lakamp said they tested the air and found no ammonia detected. The shelter-in-place order was then lifted around 7:40 a.m.
The Fairfield Fire Department said crews were battling heavy fire conditions involving a significant portion of the building's roof; firefighters were forced to abandon the search for the missing employee initially, because of "untenable heat and structural conditions." Once it was again safe to search for the man, Fairfield firefighters said they found him "near partially collapsed structural components within the fire area."
Lakamp said they don't yet know what started the fire; Monday morning, Conn told us the cause is still under investigation.
Crews were still at the scene of the fire well into Monday morning. Conn told us Monday morning that two crews remained at the site overnight, flying drone with infrared technology to monitor whether the fire was rekindling. The area of the fire remained at 50 degrees overnight, Conn said, and firefighters believe the fire is out.
According to the Fairfield Fire Department, the fire has significantly impacted operations at the Koch Foods facility, which is one of the largest employers in the Fairfield area.
No firefighters or emergency first responders were hurt during the fire or the efforts to extinguish it.
