Employee injured, Turnpike briefly closed in Sherwin-Williams plant fire in Andover

A fire early Friday at the Sherwin-Williams plant in Andover involved hazardous materials and led to the Kansas Turnpike being shut down until after the flames were put out.

An employee was treated by EMS and released at the scene after suffering minor injuries. The fire was not at the main plant and burned inside a steel tank in an outbuilding until it was put out.

Andover-Fire Rescue was called around 1:15 a.m. to the plant, which is on 13th Street and just south of I-35, and firefighters saw smoke but no fire.

“Andover Fire-Rescue worked closely with a chemist from Sherwin-Williams,” Andover spokesperson Megan Schapaugh said in an 8:15 a.m. news release. “The fire involved hazardous materials, and while the smoke produced was hazardous, it was carried away and dissipated by southern winds. There was no material runoff from the site, and no hazardous substances were released into the environment beyond the dissipating smoke.”

The highway was “temporarily shut down as a precautionary measure but has since been reopened,” Schapaugh said. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.