PORTALES, N.M. – A fire at the Hampton Farms peanut processing plant in Portales is still burning more than two weeks later. Fire officials say it’s what’s best for the plant. 

“Not to mention, the structural integrity of all the buildings is very unstable and poses a significant safety risk to our personnel. Therefore, the best course of action is to allow it to burn itself out, so that it gets rid of all that product in the oils that come from the peanuts,” said Portales Fire Chief TJ Cathey. 

Right now, there is no telling when it will completely burn out. Cathey hopes it is sometime next week, but it’s up to the wind and construction crews to determine when it does.

The cause of the fire is still unknown. We do know there were an estimated 6 million tons of peanuts inside at the time.

Cathey says the owners of Hampton Farms planned on rebuilding. The same week this fire started was a busy one for the Portales Fire Department. 

“Two days after this fire started, we had a structure fire on North Avenue, and NFPA recommends that we respond 16 people to a residential structure fire. When fully staffed, we have eight,” said Cathey. 

While surrounding and volunteer fire departments help, Cathey says it’s still a struggle because not many people want to be first responders.

The Portales Fire Department is looking to hire more people and currently has two open positions. Click here to see what positions are available.