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DURYEA — Despite a devastating fire at the Schott glass plant on Tuesday, employee paychecks will continue as normal and efforts are underway to restore the plant to full operations, employees learned Friday.
Approximately 200 Schott North America employees packed the Germania Hose Co. fire hall Friday afternoon for an informational meeting hosted by company officials.
“This was the first time we were able to get back together with all our employees and explain what happened, when it happened, where it happened, those kinds of things,” said Michael Brown, director of operations at the York Avenue hi-tech plant, which produces glass products for the aerospace and other industries.
“Right now, we’re going through the long process of evaluating what happened — specifically, where the fire started and why it started. That’s still under investigation; we’re not exactly sure how that occurred. And secondly, we’re trying to do an assessment now of all the equipment and the facility structure,” Brown said.
Brown said Schott is working to bring the facility back to full operations as soon as possible. How long that might take is unclear.
“That question came up today in the meeting, and we don’t know,” Brown said. “It’s not going to be a quick thing because we want to do this in a safe manner. One of the most important things to us right now is that the facility is safe and employees can go back in the facility and feel like they’re in a secure environment.”
“A task force is working on a recovery plan. It is too early to estimate the cost or give a date when the reconstruction will be finished,” Brown said earlier in the day in the news release.
Shipments to customers resume
Brown also said the company on Friday shipped out product from the plant for the first time since the fire.
“This is a sign of us kind of coming back online. We also had our IT group working really hard to get the computer systems and communications back online. So we’re feeling good about that. We’re able to adapt to the situation and get to the point where we’re shipping our product to customers,” he said.
And until all employees are called back to work, Schott will keep them on the payroll and their employee status won’t change, he confirmed.
Employees such as Ryan Coppola, of Mountain Top, were appreciative.
“To ensure that all of the employees are paid from now until operations resume, it’s just very, very, very generous of this company to do that. God bless Schott for what they’re doing. A tragedy happened that could really have affected a lot of people in a lot worse ways than it is now because of how they’re reaching out to help,” said Coppola, a production planner at the facility who has worked there for three years.
Brown said that layoffs of up to 80 employees that were announced in November will continue as planned, as the company is moving some of its optical glass production from the Duryea plant to its headquarters in Mainz, Germany. Those employees also will continue to receive paychecks and benefits until the announced layoff date.
That fact also impressed Coppola. “Anybody’s who are getting laid off, (Schot) will pay them until the April 2 layoff date. And from what I understand … they will be compensated with their pay, their medical, their dental, any benefits that they have. And in my mind, that is amazing,” he said.
Brown was just as impressed with the positive attitudes of the employees.
“A tribute to the people in that (fire hall meeting) room, there’s no question that people in Schott and within this community are just unbelievable. They care very deeply about each other and about the company, and they’re doing all they can to help us get back on track,” he said.
Gratitude expressed
Schott officials expressed gratitude in the statement released earlier Friday, thanking “all first responders, firefighters, paramedics, and the Duryea community for their support during the fire.
“Departments from Luzerne and Lackawanna counties were on the scene within minutes and stayed for several hours in frigid temperatures until the fire was fully extinguished. They were supported by many neighbors and local community volunteers who provided food and warming tents,” the company said.
“We are glad that everybody is safe. The fire companies have done a tremendous job in containing the fire and keeping it from spreading. We are very grateful for their dedication and heroism in dealing with the situation and also for the great support shown to us by the local community,” Brown and Dr. Frank Heinricht, chairman of the Board of Management of the Schott Group, said in the statement.
The York Avenue plant, which employs about 230 people, sustained upwards of $50 million in structural, equipment and product loss, according to fire investigators. The cause of the fire, which started in the warehouse section of the plant, is as of yet undetermined but not suspicious, a state police deputy fire marshal said Wednesday.
State Rep. Mike Carroll, D-Avoca, said he spoke on Wednesday with Jim Stein, Schott North America’s vice president of Government Affairs, and extended his support “in working with the administration to help ensure the continued presence of Schott in Duryea.”
“My takeaway from my conversation with Jim was that despite the tremendous damage that the fire caused, the Schott hierarchy is working to continue a presence in Duryea,” Carroll said.
Brown confirmed that is the company’s intention despite the catastrophic loss caused by the fire.
“We want to make sure we’re a better place because of this, and we want to move forward and get back to full operations as soon as possible,” Brown said. “We’ve been here for 45 years now, and we’re feeling like we want to stay as long as possible.”