Reprint from the Progress Times - June 20, 2008
©Progress Times 2008 - All Rights Reserved

 

Rio Queen Citrus picking up the pieces

 

By Ricky Reynoso

What was once a sprawling packing building where citrus was processed and packed is now a shell of the building it once was. On Wednesday, June 11 at 1 pm, a fire spread throughout the packing plant of Rio Queen Citrus which, according to company president Mike Martin, was started when workers were doing mainte­nance.

"An employee was doing maintenance in the building when some insulation caught fire," Martin said. "They thought they had put it out at first, but then it caught up again and spread all across the roof. Once it started, it just took off."

Martin said the flame spread across the roof and worked its way down. The charred building still remained standing in some sections while others were caved in. One end of the build­ing even looked as though it had not been touched by the fire.

"There are some areas where the only thing keeping the building together is the wiring," Martin said. "That section over there looks new, but when you look inside it’s completely destroyed."

Martin’s office, which was in the middle of the building, was completely burned as well, the sign saying "Shipping Office" still visible outside. Martin said the fire was still going well into the night when he left, adding that the wind and plant materials were making the fire more diffi­cult to put out.

"This is where we kept the inventory," Martin said pointing to a still smoking southeast sec­tion of the building. "There was a lot of cardboard there. When the wind starts up you get a lot of smoke because the cardboard takes a little longer to burn."

He went on to say the build­ing that burned was used for the citrus shipping. He also said the company’s other operations, mostly honeydew, tomatoes and onions, would more than likely not be affected. Martin also said they would move the company’s offices to an adjacent building.

"We have a back office that we’re going to use in the mean time," Martin said.

One employee was initially thought to have been injured in the fire, but according to Martin he was back at work the next morning and no injuries were reported.

Martin said the company was looking into contractors to draw up design plans to reconstruct the building which is slated to be torn down. He went on to say they were digging through the building to try to salvage what they could.

"We don’t know how soon we’ll be building," Martin said. "We’re going to rebuild from scratch. It could take a few months, it could take six months. It’s too early to tell."

A pair of gas tanks could be seen directly in front of the building with a "flammable" sticker on each one, seemingly unscathed. Martin said the fire departments made sure to soak that area so as to prevent a big­ger fire.

"There is a pressure valve that controls the tanks that we could have used if it caught fire," Martin said. "But they doused it just to make sure."

As the wind picked up, small wisps of smoke seeped out of the plant. Two other buildings, located to the south and west of the packing center, remained unscathed. The only concern that remained was the 40 employees that worked at the plant. Martin said he was not sure how it would affect them.

"This’ll disrupt the work shifts a bit, that’s for sure," Martin said. "We’re just going to have to work around it and see what we can do. We’ll have to take it from there."