Gay Lea Foods provides update on Bothwell Cheese fire

A spokesperson for Bothwell Cheese says they hope it will be weeks and not months before their plant is back up and running.

Mike Langdon is Vice President of Corporate and Co-operative Affairs with Gay Lea Foods. He says their plant in New Bothwell has been down since Saturday as the result of a morning fire. Langdon says all of their employees followed their evacuation procedures, everyone exited the building safely and there were no injuries. He notes that is the most important thing and something they are extremely grateful for.

According to Langdon, the plant was on a routine maintenance shutdown, while work was conducted on wastewater systems and the milk receiving bay. He notes this sort of maintenance shutdown happens regularly in food manufacturing facilities.

Langdon says the fire broke out in an unrelated area of the plant, focused more on filtration. 

"So, at this early stage we don't believe there was any connection between the maintenance work and the fire," he says. "But certainly, a disruption and a scary incident that we weren't expecting."

The fire is being investigated by the Office of the Fire Commissioner. A provincial spokesperson says the fire has been ruled accidental and that no damage estimate is available. Langdon adds it is too early to provide a damage estimate.

"We simply don't know at this stage," he says. "We've got a bunch of work underway now of course as you would expect, to assess the damage and understand the cost."

Langdon says it is also too early to predict just how long the plant will be out of production. He notes after inspecting the facility, it is clear that the significant damage was limited to a relatively confined area of the plant. 

"Our hope is that this is a relatively short-term disruption," he says. "We are hoping that we're talking about weeks, not months."

Langdon says they should have a better idea in the coming days as to how long the plant will be down. 

Saturday's fire spoiled only a limited amount of product, according to Langdon. He notes the good news is that the cheese is stored on the property but in an adjacent building. Langdon adds they have a good inventory on hand and are able to continue serving their customers. 

"Obviously the longer the disruption continues, the greater the risk of there being disruption to customer orders," he says. "But we feel pretty good, and we feel optimistic about getting the plant back up and running quickly."

Langdon says before the plant can go into operation again, there are certainly some repairs needed. However, he notes one of the biggest reasons for the shutdown is because of the inspection that is required on the equipment. Langdon says there will also be slight changes needed to bypass the areas of the plant that were impacted. 

"We have to make sure everything is right before we reopen," he says. "We already have contractors on site, the work is already underway."

As for staff, Langdon assures us that they are all being paid during the disruption. He notes some of them are working on cleanup, others are performing their regular jobs, while some have been asked to stay home in order to give cleanup and construction crews an opportunity to work. 

Meanwhile, Langdon says this is certainly a case where things could have turned much worse very quickly if the Hanover Fire Department had not responded as promptly as it did. 

"I simply cannot say enough about the efforts of the Hanover Fire Department," adds Langdon. "Our employees who were on site on Saturday have universally said that they were fantastic."

He adds their timely response will also assist in getting the plant back up and running more quickly.