Gonzales Packing's tomato cooler burns down
Gonzales Packing's tomato cooler burns down
A cooler loaded with about 30,000 cartons of tomatoes burned to the ground July 8 at Gonzales Packing Co. in Gonzales, CA, when a faulty generator sparked an electrical fire that quickly spread to the building.
Office Manager Melanie Horwath said July 9 that the fire was very large and temporarily resulted in the cessation of operations, but she said that the firm hoped to be up and running in a very short time. "We are going to have a crew in tomorrow cleaning things up, and then we'll see where we're at."
She said that another tomato packer, O.P. Murphy & Sons in neighboring Soledad, CA, has provided assistance by running the company's tomatoes, "so we still have product for sale."
Ms. Horwath said that an ethylene gas generator started the fire. "It wasn't working, so our dock supervisor pushed the reset button and it blew up in his face. Luckily he was not injured."
The adjacent cooler was filled with ethylene gas, so the 7:30 a.m. fire quickly spread and proved to be difficult to extinguish. "It was still smoldering at 4:30 in the afternoon," Ms. Horwath said.
Fire engines from throughout the Salinas Valley responded to the call for help with 14 engines from eight fire departments responding to put out the blaze. Ms. Horwath said that insurance adjusters were still assessing the damage, and a dollar figure representing the loss had not been determined by press time. "We still have a number of rooms that survived, so we are just going to put up some portables and start going again as quickly as we can."
The Central California tomato deal had just gotten started within the last couple of weeks.
Office Manager Melanie Horwath said July 9 that the fire was very large and temporarily resulted in the cessation of operations, but she said that the firm hoped to be up and running in a very short time. "We are going to have a crew in tomorrow cleaning things up, and then we'll see where we're at."
She said that another tomato packer, O.P. Murphy & Sons in neighboring Soledad, CA, has provided assistance by running the company's tomatoes, "so we still have product for sale."
Ms. Horwath said that an ethylene gas generator started the fire. "It wasn't working, so our dock supervisor pushed the reset button and it blew up in his face. Luckily he was not injured."
The adjacent cooler was filled with ethylene gas, so the 7:30 a.m. fire quickly spread and proved to be difficult to extinguish. "It was still smoldering at 4:30 in the afternoon," Ms. Horwath said.
Fire engines from throughout the Salinas Valley responded to the call for help with 14 engines from eight fire departments responding to put out the blaze. Ms. Horwath said that insurance adjusters were still assessing the damage, and a dollar figure representing the loss had not been determined by press time. "We still have a number of rooms that survived, so we are just going to put up some portables and start going again as quickly as we can."
The Central California tomato deal had just gotten started within the last couple of weeks.
