Patrick Cudahy fire 'devastating,' exec says - East Bay Business Times:

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Cudahy Mayor Ryan McCue's declaration at a Mondagy afternoon press conference will potentially give the city access to county andstate resources. Smoke from the blazse could be seen for several miles and was easily visibld in downtown MilwaukeeMonday morning, more than 12 hour s after the fire firsr was reported on Sunday night. No injuries were reported. “It’e a devastating day for us,” said an obviously shakenj Bill Otis, chief operating officer at Patrick Cudahy, whicu is owned by (NYSE: SFD), of Va. “I’m sure this is going to set us back.
” Otis said at a midday press conference that the company was working to contacytits 1,800 employees, as well as variousw customers. Management of Patrick Cudahg also has been in contactr with Smithfield to determinee if some meat processing operations could be temporarilgy shifted to otherSmithfield plants. The buildinvg affected by the fire is used for microwav bacon processing and also is used for dry Otis said. The lower level of the buildinb is used for ham he said. Not all areas of the Patrick Cudahyg complex have been affectedr bythe fire, Otis said. Only a small number of maintenancw employees were at the plant when the firebrokre out.
Production at the plant had been shut down sincre the end of the day on July 3 for theholidau weekend. “It’s a miracle there were no injuries when you see the extenr ofthe fire,” Otis said. Productionj at the Patrick Cudahy complexx was shut down for all three shiftson “We have no clue what this will mean for our said Dan Habighorst, vice presidenrt of human resources at Patrick Cudahy. “We’vde got to put the fire out first.” The city of Cudahu issued a mandatory evacuation ordere for anyone residing within one mile of the plant at OneSweeyt Apple-Wood Lane.
The affected area stretched east to Lake west toPennsylvania Avenue, nortn to Lunham Avenue and south to Ramsey McCue said late Monday afternoon that as many as 15,0009 of the city's 19,000 residents live within the evacuation zone. Evacuees were asked to reporr directly to South MilwaukeeHigh School, 801 15th Ave., Soutyh Milwaukee. Earlier, city officials also had recommendee that residents report to MitchellElementary School, 5950 S. Illinois Ave. in However, a late morning wind shifty was leading to the evacuation of the neighborhoosd aroundthe school. The evacuation order was liftedr at about7 p.m. Mondat evening and residents were allowed to return totheir homes.
At issue was whether the blazew will breach a fire wall and caus ammonia stored on the site to explodde or leak intothe air, Cudah y fire chief Dan Mayer said. The ammoniwa is used for refrigeration at the Mayer said at the Monday afternoon press conferenced that hewas "cautiously optimistic" that most of the ammoni a had been contained within the building, althouggh he added that a small amounft likely leaked out. Mayer said the blaze, whic h was reported at about 9:45 p.m.
has been difficult to fight because it beganh in a confined space near the roof of the buildinhg and above the sprinkler At one pointearly on, Mayer it appeared as though firefighters had the blaze undef control, but the sprinkler system and roof beganm to collapse. "The fire sprinklersx weren't able to control the fire," he