Just four days after a fire broke out in a paint booth at Scranton Manufacturing, Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Don Ross, says they have been focused on remaining operational and getting people back to work.
Ross says they delivered nine trucks yesterday (Wednesday). They will deliver that many, or more, today (Thursday) and they are working closely with customers on potential delays. Ross does not want to minimize what happened, saying this was a very serious incident, but it really speaks to the resilience of their employee family on how quickly they can bounce back and recover. There are about 325 employees of the company’s roughly 500 that work at the Scranton site. Not all employees were able to get right back to work, and some of them contacted Carroll Broadcasting anonymously, saying they were going to have to use up to 40 hours of paid time off while waiting for a call back. Ross says Scranton Manufacturing leadership has addressed this issue.
And even though the employees’ benefits and pay have not been interrupted as a result of the incident, Ross says their goal is to get everyone back to work as soon as possible. The Iowa Fire Marshal has been to the site, but no answers as to the cause are readily available as of yet.
Ross says reports of explosions on Monday night were likely from the tires of one of the two trucks involved in the blaze. Insurance adjusters are still on site evaluating the extent of the damage, that could range from around $1 million to $2 million or more.
He adds that every surface in the plant will need to be cleaned because of the extensive soot and smoke residue. They expect this cleaning to take a couple of weeks, but Ross says they are hoping to be closer to 75 to 80 percent capacity with the necessary elements of the plant online by the end of next week. On behalf of Scranton Manufacturing, Ross extends their thanks to all the utility workers and many others.
Ross will be providing ongoing updates on their recovery progress and as more details about the fire become available.
