SUTTONS BAY — Leelanau Fruit Company officials are sifting through the damage from a fire that has halted operations.
Plant operations are stopped while “we assess next steps,” a statement from Glenn LaCross, president of Leelanau Fruit Company, said.
The disruption follows a Saturday fire that caused billowing black smoke and drew 11 agencies, almost 50 personnel, to help put out the fire in just over an hour.
The Leelanau Fruit Company was founded in 1964 by local cherry farmers. They process strawberries, brine cherries, sweet cherries, dark sweet cherries, plums, and peaches.
The plant at 2900 S. West Bayshore Drive is one of two plants the company runs and about 35 employees are impacted by the closure, since the plant is in its slower season, LaCross said.
He expects they will be back at work soon though and will be paid in the meantime.
“Insurance will take care of our payroll,” he said.
The fire struck the plant just before 2 p.m. on Saturday and the initial reports came from an employee that said an appliance was on fire in the building, a Suttons Bay-Bingham Fire and Rescue Facebook post said.
911 was called “immediately” thanks to a “quick thinking” employee, LaCross’ statement said, and the company was grateful that no one was injured during the fire.
No one was reported to be inside the building during the fire, according to a Leelanau County Office of Emergency Management post.
Central Dispatch logs stated there was a small fire on the roof of a steel building with fiberglass insulation toward the back of the plant. The log also reported “heavy black smoke outside” at the scene.
The first responders on the scene arrived six minutes after the initial call. The fire on the inside of the building was controlled in about 10 minutes, but by that time the fire had spread to the roof, a Suttons Bay-Bingham Fire and Rescue statement said.
Damage to the building is limited, but the full extent won’t be known until inspections and assessments are completed, LaCross said.
“We are deeply thankful for the swift actions of our employee on site, and for the outstanding work of the responding fire departments in protecting both our people, our processing plant and our community,” he said.
The investigation into the cause of the fire is ongoing.
A regional response
According to Suttons Bay-Bingham Fire and Rescue, fire crews from Suttons Bay, Northport, Elmwood, Leland, Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, Leelanau Township, Glen Lake, Cedar, Peninsula Township, Long Lake, Traverse City and Grand Traverse Metro Emergency Services Authority responded to the fire.
These local fire departments were able to “respond rapidly and extinguish the fire,” LaCross said.
Traverse City Fire Department was initially called around 2:15 p.m. for their 100-foot ladder, Capt. Steve Ball said. Their extra-tall ladder has a bucket that allows firefighters to deploy water and foam.
A lot of the roof membrane was on fire when they arrived and there was “pretty heavy black smoke,” he said.
Ball said the cooperation amongst the agencies and speed with which they worked to get water on the roof “really made a difference before it was a bigger issue.”
Once they were there and the presence of ammonia, a refrigerant that can cause burns and other health concerns, was established, the Traverse City HazMat team was called in, Ball said.
Three hazardous materials specialists from the city fire department and two from Grand Traverse Metro Fire Department made up the HazMat team and made sure there was no ammonia leakage.
Around 3 p.m. the fire was out and units started to leave around 3:20 p.m. The HazMat team stuck around for “quite a few hours,” Ball said, to monitor the air for any leaks.
The Leelanau County Sheriff’s Office, Leelanau County Office of Emergency Management, Leelanau County Dispatch, Michigan State Police, and Grand Traverse 911 all acted in “critical supportive roles,” the Suttons Bay-Bingham Fire and Rescue statement said.
“Strong mutual aid partnerships are a necessity, and we can not thank these various agencies enough for their support and efforts in this incident,” they said.