MIDLAND COUNTY, Mich. (WNEM) - No one was injured during a large commercial fire in Midland County Thursday morning.
It happened at Robinson Industries on W. Curtis Road in Coleman.
W. Curtis Road was closed between M-18 and N. Magruder Road while crews battled the blaze.
“Most of you have heard by now that there was a major fire with extensive loss at Robinson Industries early this morning. Thankfully no one was injured. We want all of our customers and employees and community members to know that we are definitely still in business. We also want to express our deepest gratitude to our employees and first responders who went above and beyond to control the fire and get everyone to safety. We are already meeting to first make sure that our customers needs are met and secondly to begin to rebuild. Thank you everyone for your outpouring of support,” Robinson Industries said.
Melissa Jellum, a plant manager at Robinson Industries, talked about the fire that lit up the early morning sky.
“I got a call at about 5:20 a.m. that we have fire in the plant and that it was bad,” Jellum said.
Jellum said they know what machine started the fire.
“It sounds like it was just one of those glitches in thermoforming. The plastic gets too hot, and it fell into the heater bank. The employees put the fire out. We just went through fire training. Everybody did a fantastic job. They got the fire out and all of a sudden there must’ve been still some remnants or something up in there and it just took off. And when it went, it just got up into the wooden rafters and then it was, they said within minutes,” Jellum said.
She said the main building, where the thermoform machines are located, sustained the majority of the damage.
“We had quite a fire here, but we’re happy to state that all of our employees are safe. They did their best to put the fire out. We’re very proud of them,” Jellum said.
Jellum feels the same way as Robinson.
“We’re devastated. We’re in shock, but Tom and I worked here for 28 years, and a wonderful company, full intention to come back stronger,” Jellum said.
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