Fifty workers inside a steel manufacturing plant said they ran out as quickly as they could after hearing a loud explosion and fire Wednesday morning.

As per report ash and melted metal is all that’s left of dozens of workers’ livelihoods at Nebraska Machine Products.

One employee said when he turned a corner he saw the floor covered in flames. As smoke began to engulf the building, he said, he made it outside. That’s where he realized how bad the situation actually was.

Steel worker Rex Tupper said that "There's just tooling everywhere ... it's just hard to fathom how much money is lost here.”

Machine operator Jamar Fields said that "It's just crazy. I really don't know what to think. It's crazy right now.”

The employees who got out could only watch in disbelief and remember they were inside just moments earlier.

Mr Fields said that "Flames engulfed the whole building. Smoke was all around, and we were just told to run.”

The owner of Hamel Manufacturing in Waterloo was at the scene of the fire. His business burned down last month, so its product had been moved to this plant.

(Sourced from www.ketv.com)