SALINAS, CALIF. (Updated July 27, 1:35 p.m. ET) — A July 26 fire seriously damaged the 4,000-square-foot Salinas, Calif., warehouse of Denham Plastics LLC, primarily a reseller of agricultural harvesting containers such as bulk bins, pallets and totes.

“We have no idea how it started,” said Mike Hutchings, a co-owner.

Fire department officials said the late afternoon blaze began in the Denham Plastics pallet yard and, about 20 minutes later, resulted in an explosion of undetermined origin. The fire spread to the outside yard of an adjacent produce processing facility of River Ranch Fresh Foods LLC.

Hutchings and Jeff Denham, now a U.S. congressman, established the business in December 2000. Denham Plastics distributes plastic material handling items, rents used containers for transitional seasons, provides repair services including replacement parts and plastics welding and recycles unusable items.

The firm strives to transition customers from wood and fiber containers and bins and convert them to plastic products. In addition, Denham Plastics utilizes technology to provide containers incorporating metal flake for metal detection devices or containing anti-bacterial resin.

Denham worked in the agriculture industry as an almond rancher, was a California state senator from 2002-2010 and is running in November for reelection to Congress. He was elected to his first term in 2010.