Nine months after that sickening 1 a.m. phone call when Joshua Bulk, co-owner of Rosa Flora Ltd. in Dunnville, ON, discovered a devastating fire that destroyed two out of five greenhouses, 15 custom-made trucks, sales facilities, coolers, loading docks and logistics, the company continues to rebuild and is still going strong. The blaze hit the business hard, affecting about 40 percent of its production and causing over $20 million in damages, but everyone went to work the next day and started planning the company’s recovery.

“Our goal moving forward was to get operations and shipping as quickly as possible back to our new normal,” Bulk told The Produce News. “We adjusted our shipping schedule since we went from 26 loading docks to just one. The first couple of weeks were rough but, as a result of careful planning and constantly reviewing our processes, we have been able to get to a state where we could service our customers on a consistent basis.”

Rosa Flora is one of North America’s larger cut flower operations with over 1.6 million feet of growing space and between 150 to 200 employees. It grows gerberas, snapdragons, lisianthus, alstroemeria, stephanotis, anthurium and lilies and serves a market area including the northeastern United States, the Niagara region, southern Ontario and southwestern Quebec.

The cause of the massive fire last March remains a mystery. “The Ontario Fire Marshall investigated, as well as insurance-related parties, but due to the many hot spots, as well as the intensity and length of the blaze, we were unable to determine the exact cause of the fire,” said Bulk. “We are taking every reasonable precaution with this rebuild to ensure this does not occur again.” The new warehouse is now protected with firewalls.

The rebuilt Plant 5 greenhouse went back into production in June, followed by the Plant 4 greenhouse in September. “We are at 70 percent of production now and we will have our snapdragon production up to last year starting in January 2015,” Bulk said. “We have also added new lights in our large and mini gerbera ranges and we hope to see an increase in stems per square meter. Since our Plant 4 and Plant 5 locations are relatively new facilities, there are many built-in technologies to achieve higher productivity and better production. Our focus in this rebuild is to build upon what we have already learned, and make some subtle changes to enhance our already technologically-advanced greenhouse infrastructure.”

Rosa Flora is closing out 2014 with optimism and gratitude and is also proving that adversity can draw people together to overcome any seemingly insurmountable challenge. “The support of staff, vendors and community was an essential part of our successful rebuilding,” said Bulk. “I have learned that despite what life can throw at you, if you have the stamina and proper support, we can endure through many trials. As a company we have learned that same lesson.”