I can’t believe nobody drowned in butter

The phenomenon known as “government cheese” began in the early 20th century when the American dairy industry was on the verge of collapse. The US government began buying surplus butter and cheese in order to keep dairy farmers afloat. By the late 20th century, there were billions of pounds of dairy products stored away across the country, from warehouses in Wisconsin to the infamous cheese caves of Kentucky.

In May of 1991, the Central Storage Warehouse on the edge of Madison, Wisconsin was a key cog in the government cheese storage wars. With over 3.5 million pounds of butter, 6 million pounds of cheese, as well as half a million pounds of cranberries and a million Oscar Mayer hot dogs, CSW was a thriving business….until May 3rd.

During the middle of the day, a faulty forklift caught on fire. CSW employees believed they extinguished the fire, but about an hour later, the forklift fire expanded to the rest of the warehouse. As the fire continued, butter began to melt and what began as an electrical fire quickly turned into a grease fire.

Madison Fire Department was quick to respond, as fire station number 3 is also located across the street from CSW on Cottage Grove Road. This unprecedented situation could not be contained with one fire company, and reinforcements were soon called from around the city and surrounding areas. Some firefighters were assigned to the trucks, some were in charge of water hoses, and others were tasked with protecting the Ammonia tanks from taking out the whole neighborhood. Evacuations of residents from the surrounding neighborhoods began.

Firefighters struggled to contain the fire and within a few hours, the pressure from the water and melted dairy products knocked down the walls of CSW and began to flood Cottage Grove Road, creating a whole new issue for emergency services. With Madison being built on an isthmus, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources were called in to make sure the butter and cheese runoff did not enter the lakes. The consequences would have been disastrous to the natural environment, so they began building trenches to divert the runoff.

For 8 days, fire departments of the area slipped and trudged through melted butter and cheese fighting the fire. Figuring out as they went along, no one was killed or seriously injured.

This short documentary will be composed entirely of archival footage.