(Radio Iowa) – A bale fire at the POET Bioprocessing plant in northwest Iowa has been burning since Monday night. It’s about a mile from the town of Emmetsburg where Patrick Degen is the mayor. “They’ve got it under control. I don’t think there’s any risk of that fire spreading anywhere. But I just want people to know that we’re going to work with POET to make sure that does not happen again,” he says. The bales are corn stover that is turned into ethanol. Degen says he recognizes the stress and inconvenience that the smoke has had on residents.

“It’s still smoldering, the bales are. I know our neighbors at POET have been working diligently to move as many of the unburned bales away from the bales that are burning to take some of the fuel away from the fire and hopefully get it to go out sooner,” Degan says.

This is the second fire at the plant this year. Another bale fire broke out in February. POET officials did not respond to inquiries about the fire.