Officials may never know what caused the massive fire last week that destroyed the main production and warehouse building at Fiber Conversion, Fulton County Fire Coordinator Allan Polmateer said Thursday.
Fiber Conversion will survive the massive fire that destroyed its main production and warehouse building, a company official said.
Nick Terlaak Poot, sales manager for the synthetic textile reprocessing company, said there are several organizational changes in the works.
“We have other buildings on the campus and another production line. We were working five days. We have another production line and we’re going to go seven days a week, 24 hours a day to catch up,” he said.
Terlaak Poot said he’s also been in touch with the company’s customers, who have promised to be patient as the company tries to ramp up production.
“We have another line in storage but it will take four to six weeks to get it up,” he said.
The company’s 30 employees don’t have to worry about their jobs, despite the huge loss, he said.
He said the company has to organize a clean-up operation while it also begins production.
“We’re going to be limping along, but we’re going to keep going,” he said.
Polmateer said there was little progress in the investigation during the past week.
“I don’t have anything new. After interviewing the owners and the people in the building, all we now is the fire started in that east end of the building. As for what ignited it, it’s still an open case. We may never know what started it,” Polmateer said.
Terlaak Poot said fire and insurance investigators spent the past couple of days poking around the wrecked building and still haven’t found a cause.
Insurance will cover the loss, he said, although there was no official estimate of the damage available.
“I’m guessing in the millions. One line alone is one million and two lines went up in the fire, plus the building,” Terlaak Poot said.
Also this week the village lifted a boil-water advisory.
The advisory was issued after firefighting efforts depleted the pressure in the village’s water system.
Clerk-Treasurer Sheila Bleyl said the advisory was lifted Tuesday after satisfactory tests from two samples.
No one was hurt in the fire. Fiber Conversion has a 100-year history in the village.
Categories: Schenectady County
