Two weeks after a devastating fire at the Cache Valley Cheese Plant, most of the 300 employees are back to work and up to 500,000 pounds of cheese are being produced daily.

Plant Manager Rex Gleason said the building has been completely cleaned of the toxic chemicals released in a March 8 fire that destroyed the plant's packing materials warehouse, general offices and a small retail outlet.Fire officials said a torch being used by employees to dismantle an old tank started the fire that caused more than $2 million in damage.

Gleason said packaging of cheese began over the weekend and cheese production started Sunday night.

He said the plant began receiving milk from local diary producers on Monday.

Carpenters still are making repairs on the areas not lost to flames, and Gleason said construction work will probably be started soon.

The Amalga plant is headquarters for the cheese division for Western Dairymen Cooperative Inc. Vice President Doug Larson said about 865,000 pounds of cheese were lost in the blaze.

However, he said the loss is not expected to have any effect on the price or availability of cheese on the market place.

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