A blaze at a large abattoir east of Adelaide is likely to burn into the weekend with firefighters battling dangerous structural conditions.
The fire at Thomas Foods International was accidentally started on Wednesday by a welder igniting an offal bin.
The boning rooms and storage facilities in the four-storey building at Murray Bridge were severely damaged before the fire was brought under control.
The Metropolitan Fire Service said it was still burning in the basement and could continue to do so into Saturday.
An excavator was being used to help gain access to the fire with crews concerned about unstable walls.
Firefighters also had to contend with temperatures in the high 30s on Friday, with the mercury forecast to reach 43C on Saturday.
Emergency Services Minister Chris Picton said the age and design of the building was causing fire crews problems.
"There's a whole lot of structure concerns," he said.
"Gaining access to that basement to fully extinguish that fire has been quite difficult."
The blaze has put the future of 1400 jobs at the plant at risk, with the state government setting up a taskforce and community information centre in Murray Bridge to provide counselling and advice.
Agriculture Minister Leon Bignell said it was too early to tell what the long-term impact would be.
Thomas Foods chief executive Darren Thomas said he was confident the group would continue to meet its orders, both domestic and export, by shifting production to other facilities in the Adelaide Hills, and at Tamworth in NSW.
The company would also try to redeploy some workers to its other plants.
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