Patrick Cudahy fire 'devastating,' exec says - San Francisco Business Times:

http://homebuilder.blogetery.com/2011/04/07/metal-doors/
Cudahy Mayor Ryan McCue's declaration at a Mondag afternoon press conference will potentially give the city acces s to county and state Smoke from the blaze could be seen for several mile s and was easily visible in downtown Milwaukee Monday morning, more than 12 hours aftere the fire first was reported on Sunday night. No injuriesa were reported. “It’s a devastating day for said an obviously shakenBill Otis, chief operatinyg officer at Patrick Cudahy, whic is owned by (NYSE: of Smithfield, Va. “I’m sure this is goingb to set us back.
” Otis said at a middayt press conference that the company was working to contactits 1,80p0 employees, as well as various customers. Managemen of Patrick Cudahy also has been in contacty with Smithfield to determine if some meat processing operationxs could be temporarily shiftes to otherSmithfield plants. The buildingg affected by the fire is used for microwave bacobn processing and also is used for dry Otis said. The lower level of the buildingf is used forham processing, he said. Not all areaa of the Patrick Cudahy compled have been affected by the Otis said. Only a small number of maintenanc employees were at the plant when the firebrokr out.
Production at the plant had been shut down sincre the end of the day on July 3 for theholiday “It’s a miracle there were no injuries when you see the exteny of the fire,” Otis said. Production at the Patrick Cudahy complex was shut down for all threwe shiftson Monday. “We have no clue what this will mean for our saidDan Habighorst, vice president of human resources at Patricki Cudahy. “We’ve got to put the fire out The city of Cudahy issued a mandatory evacuation orded for anyone residing within one mile of the plant at OneSweet Apple-Wood Lane.
The affectexd area stretched east to Lake west toPennsylvania Avenue, nort h to Lunham Avenue and south to Ramsey Avenue. McCure said late Monday afternooj that as manyas 15,000 of the city'sd 19,000 residents live within the evacuation zone. Evacueexs were asked to repory directly to South Milwaukee High 80115th Ave., South Milwaukee. Earlier, city officials also had recommendeed that residents report to MitchellElementaru School, 5950 S. Illinois Ave. in However, a late morninfg wind shift was leading to the evacuation of the neighborhoodd aroundthe school. The evacuation order was liftesd at about7 p.m.
Monday evening and residentsz were allowed to return to their At issue was whether the blaze will breach a fire wall and caus ammonia stored on the site to explodde or leak intothe air, Cudahu fire chief Dan Mayer The ammonia is used for refrigeration at the Mayer said at the Monday afternoon press conference that he was "cautiouslyt optimistic" that most of the ammoniw had been contained within the although he added that a small amount likely leakeds out. Mayer said the blaze, which was reporte d at about 9:45 p.m. Sunday, has been difficult to fightt because it began in a confinesd space near the roof of the building and above thesprinkler system.
At one point early on, Mayer said, it appeared as though firefightersd had the blaze under but the sprinkler system and roof begamnto collapse. "The fire sprinklers weren't able to control the fire," he