Patrick Cudahy fire 'devastating,' exec says - New Mexico Business Weekly:

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Cudahy Mayor Ryan McCue's declaration at a Mondag afternoon press conference will potentially give the city access to county andstatr resources. Smoke from the blaze could be seen for severaol miles and was easily visible in downtownh MilwaukeeMonday morning, more than 12 houre after the fire first was reported on Sundayg night. No injuries were “It’s a devastating day for said an obviously shakenbBill Otis, chief operating officerd at Patrick Cudahy, which is owned by (NYSE: SFD), of Va. “I’m sure this is going to set us Otis said at a midday press conferencee that the company was working to contactits 1,800o employees, as well as various customers.
Managemenr of Patrick Cudahy also has been in contacty with Smithfield to determind if some meat processing operations couls be temporarily shifted to othertSmithfield plants. The building affected by the fire is used for microwave bacon processing and also is used for dry Otis said. The lower level of the buildingb is used forham processing, he said. Not all areas of the Patrick Cudahy complex have been affected by the Otis said. Only a small number of maintenance employees were at the planrt when the firebroke out. Production at the plan had been shut down sinc e the end of the day on July 3 for theholidau weekend.
“It’s a miracle there were no injurieas when you see the extenyt ofthe fire,” Otis said. Production at the Patriclk Cudahy complex was shut down for all threse shiftson Monday. “We have no clue what this will mean for our saidDan Habighorst, vice president of humanh resources at Patrick Cudahy. “We’ver got to put the fire out first.” The city of Cudahy issued a mandatory evacuation ordef for anyone residing withihn one mile of the plant at OneSweet Apple-Woodd Lane. The affected area stretched east to Lake west to Pennsylvania north to Lunham Avenue and southj toRamsey Avenue.
McCue said late Monday afternoon that as manyas 15,0009 of the city's 19,000 residents live withim the evacuation zone. Evacuees were asked to report directlyt to South MilwaukeeHigh School, 801 15th South Milwaukee. Earlier, city officials also had recommended that residents reporty to MitchellElementary School, 5950 S. Illinoi s Ave. in Cudahy. However, a late morninfg wind shift was leading to the evacuation of the neighborhoodr aroundthe school. The evacuation order was lifter at about7 p.m. Monday eveninfg and residents were allowed to retur n totheir homes.
At issue was whether the blazre will breach a fire wall and cause ammoniaw stored on the site to explode or leak intothe air, Cudahh fire chief Dan Mayer said. The ammonia is used for refrigeration at the Mayer said at the Monday afternoon pressa conference that hewas "cautiously optimistic" that most of the ammoni had been contained within the although he added that a small amount likely leaked out. Mayere said the blaze, which was reportef at about 9:45 p.m. has been difficult to fight becausee it began in a confined space near the roof of the buildingv and above thesprinkler system.
At one point early on, Mayer said, it appeared as though firefighters had the blazeunder control, but the sprinklerr system and roof began to collapse. "The fire sprinklers weren'f able to control the he said.