Hundreds without work after fire destroys part of Echo Lake Foods
BURLINGTON (WITI) -- After a massive fire destroyed part of the Echo Lake Foods plant in Burlington, Wisconsin on Wednesday evening, hundreds are without work.
Early in her shift Wednesday night, Paul Rein was working at the Echo Lake Foods plant in Burlington when an urgent announcement was made inside the plant. Then, co-workers began to react.
"It almost sounded like someone was really desperate to get our plant manager's attention. He just looked at all of us. I was working on the line there, and said 'get out, get out now,'" Rein said.
Rein and about 50 other co-workers were able to get out of the building safely, but said they were unsure of what was happening.
Outside, fire lit up the dark sky as flames were burning about 20,000 square feet of the 70,000 square foot plant, and eventually firefighters from 88 different departments in Wisconsin and Illinois were fighting this fire.
"To bring in a lot of resources at that time, it was a defensive operation from the beginning. We weren't able to send anyone inside. We were not going to do an interior attack," a fire official said.
The fire destroyed the production operation for a company that makes egg products and breakfast foods and displaced 300 workers.
"There will be an impact on the city, obviously. We're talking about 300 workers who are now without a job with no future employment on the horizon," Burlington Mayor Robert Miller said.
"Now to have to go through that process again to find out when the next check is going to come for my family and how we're going to survive," Rein said.
General Manager Jerry Warntjes told FOX6 News they will try to shift some of their workforce to another plant in Yorkville.
Meanwhile, state and Racine County officials will meet with the workers Wednesday, February 6th to help with unemployment forms and answer questions. The event is scheduled for the Veterans Terrace from 10:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m.
"They're reaching out to help us out and hopefully that will be a lead for me to get back into the workforce," Rein said.