Story - The Meade County Messenger


Vol. 115, No. 6	February 6, 2008

Fire destroys area veneer plant;
Employees continuing forward

Photos by Larry See Jr.
Flames still can be seen in the rear of the Norstam Veneer plant near Mauckport Sunday afternoon. Firefighters from throughout southern Indiana and Kentucky converged on the scene about 9 p.m. Feb. 2 to fight the fire, which is still under investigation. Employees are eager to rebuild the facility.

By LARRY SEE JR.
Messenger Staff

“It was one heck of a fire,” Heth Township Volunteer Fire Department Chief Cecil Garman said.

Garman’s department was one of the first on the scene of the Norstam Veneer fire, which started at 9:05 p.m. Saturday night, Feb. 2.

The fire rendered the plant, located off Indiana 135 just north of the Ohio River bridge in Mauckport, unusable.

Norstam, according to their Web site, is a leader in the manufacture of hardwood veneers and lumber products.

The firm is also an ESOP company, which means about 115 employees hold stock. The workforce comes from Meade and Harrison counties, according to Cindy Haycraft, Norstam’s shipping manager and a Brandenburg resident.

Firm president Mark Fitzgerald said about 70 percent of the employees come from Meade, Breckinridge and Hardin counties while the remainder are from Indiana.

According to the Web site, the ESOP allows employees to grow with the firm and gives the entire work force pride in the company.

Firefighters from throughout southern Indiana and Kentucky, including those from Meade County, Payneville, Battletown and Ekron brought tankers and ladder trucks to extinguish the blaze.

Plant Vice President Roger Dunaway and long-time employee Sterling Watkins, both of Corydon, reflect on the plant’s future. Employees gathered early Monday morning to hear additional details on the weekend’s devastating fire.

“We got the call and we got the other departments here as fast as we could,” Garman said. “We called all of the departments that we could get a hold of, including those in Meade County and Hardinsburg. We even got help from as far as Sellersburg, Utica and LaFayette.”

State troopers blocked off Indiana 135 to stop the horde of onlookers and allow firefighters to carry out their duties.

A lack of sufficient water lines in the general vicinity meant firefighters had to bring in water from three remote locations.

Fitzgerald admitted the four-inch water line hampered fire fighting efforts, and that was an improvement he was eyeing for the future.

“There is a main six-inch line up the road and I am going to go to the county council and see when we do rebuild, if we can extend it a little further, he said.

Most fire departments cleared the scene around 7 a.m, Garman said, with his department staying on-site until early Sunday afternoon to assist the state fire marshal in his investigation.

As of Sunday afternoon, the origin of the fire was undetermined.

“The veneer was real dry and we couldn’t do a lot with getting the fire extinguished,” Garman said. Once firefighters determined where the fire originated it had spread further, making attempts to sustain it difficult.

“We do want to extend a special thanks to all of the departments,” Garman continued. “Even all of the departments over in Kentucky. We appreciate what they did. They did a fine job, everybody did.”

“We did it (picked up the pieces) before so we can do it again,” Haycraft said, standing outside the fence observing firefighters doing their duties Sunday afternoon.

Signs were posted late Sunday afternoon alerting employees to Monday’s meeting and keeping others off-site. Employees Cindy Haycraft, kneeling, and Teresa Yates, made sure the signs were weather-resistant.

Mauckport resident Teresa Yates, was one of the newer employees at the Overlook Road facility, having held a job there for two months.

“Eighty percent of the people have worked here five years or more,” Haycraft said. “There are a lot of people who have worked here 10 years and up.”

“This is a very emotional time for all of us,” firm Vice President George Bowlin said Monday morning during a specially-called meeting.

“But the main thing is that this is not the end. We are definitely going to do everything we can to rebuild. We have not talked to the insurance company yet, but I think in the next three months we’ll be rolling forward again.”

“This is like watching your house burn down,” Sterling Wakins of Corydon said.

Watkins, a 26-year firm employee, indicated the building might be a total loss, but was rejoicing in the fact there were no injuries.

“We can all be grateful for that,” he said. “We’ll rebuild. I’m ready. I want to go get a shovel or whatever it takes to get it going.”

Watkins, who started his employment as the self-described “low man on the totem pole,” now is the mill supervisor.

“The thought of having to start over though just makes me sick to my stomach,” he said, gazing over the facility, marred with human-cut holes to allowsteam and smoke to escape.

Employees and firefighters gathered outside Sunday afternoon in unseasonably warm February weather, watching the fire marshal complete his investigation and to plan their next steps.

Vice President Dana McCarty urged employees to visit unemployment offices Monday to start that process.

“We want you to draw unemployment and hopefully we can get a fundraiser going in the community for you,” Fitzgerald said.

“We are hoping we can pull everything together and get back up within the next three to six months,” he said, adding a salesman was enroute to offer new machinery and officials were investigating prices for a new structure.

“This is all new to us too,” he told the employees gathered in a storage facility near the plant. “There is a lot of information we were unable to get by this morning,” Fitzgerald said. “But we are going to rebuilt. We have been thinking about doing a lot of things down there anyway, now we have got the chance.”

Fitzgerald said the sawmill and boiler room were still intact, predicting those employees might be able to work within three weeks.

“We also need clean-up people and we’ll be making calls to get them,” Fitzgerald said.

Employees will still be paid Thursday, McCarty said. Personal information was being collected Monday morning to allow callbacks quicker.

“We’re going to need people to get in and try to do some stuff,” Fitzgerald said. “We have a lot of customers who are already looking for our wood and we might be doing some custom cutting at other veneer plants.”

Right now, Fitzgerald said, they needed to concentrate on that, without money coming in, it’s hard for the firm to expend money.

“We’re also looking for a warehouse to put the veneer,” he said, adding his search will take him to Corydon unless a suitable facility is closer.

“This (the fire) happens to a lot of people,” Fitzgerald said. “It just happened to us this time. When we acquired the plant in 1980 we didn’t have a lot of opportunity to change a lot. Now we have got an opportunity to do it better this time.”

“We are a family and we are all in this together,” McCarty said. “This company is a family.”

“We’re going to try to do our part. Feel free to give us a call and we’ll try to get you the best answer we can,” Fitzgerald said.

Maintenance crews started work immediately and employees were sought to watch the plant entrance.

Other improvements planned include better effiiency and separate work areas between the mill and other locations.

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