Friday’s fire that destroyed a planer at North Enderby Timber has resulted in some job loss.
Eight employees were given temporary layoffs on Friday.
A company spokesperson had told the Morning Star Friday at lunchtime that the fire, which broke out Friday at approximately 4:30 a.m., would impact the mill but that “everybody will be back at work.”
Close to 30 people work at the planer.
“It was tough. I hadn’t called employees about the layoffs and those who got it were upset,” said NET general manager Ben Hendrickson on Monday. “They did find out Friday. They are temporary layoffs and we hope to have the eight individuals back working as soon as possible.”
Hendrickson said company officials were still assessing the damages from Friday’s blaze, but that the mill would be keeping its customers serviced.
“We have a separate planer to put wood in there to do the vast majority of our planing,” he said. “It’s a fairly normal operation other than the equipment we lost in the fire.”
Enderby fire chief Kevin Alstad said Monday that investigators are still looking into the cause of the blaze, but arson had been ruled out.
Friday’s fire caused an estimated $400,000 to $500,000 in damages to the mill.
