Firefighters from Coleman, Beaverton, Gladwin and Billings Township work to tame a fire at Robinson Industries, located at 3051 W. Curtis Road in Coleman, Thursday, March 31, 2022.

Robinson Industries is moving forward this week despite the March 31 fire that took six hours to battle and over a million gallons of water to extinguish.

The Coleman plastics company began its week by sending out its first shipment Monday since the fire, said Ronda Robinson, whose grandparents, Fred and Ardis, started the company in 1947.

Robinson, the company’s marketing manager, said she is thankful no one was injured.

Company officials are assessing the cost of the damage to the facility. Robinson said company officials found that some of the machines damaged in the fire can be rewired and refurbished. Insurance adjusters are expected this week to inventory the damage.

The fire started from a routine process of heating a sheet of plastic at the main thermoforming plant where offices are also located, Robinson said. The company produces thermoformed heavy-duty plastics and injection molding for several industries including auto, retail, agricultural, battery, defense, marine, and textile.

“It was a fluke,” Robinson said.

A fire started and midnight shift employees extinguished it, Robinson said. Then it reignited. 

“They were heroic,” she said. “They tried everything they could to get it out.”

Robinson and her husband, Bob Sucharski, were celebrating their anniversary in the Detroit area the evening before the fire. They learned about the fire via text on March 31.

The outreach from the community, employees, the union, competitors, non-competitors, their customers and more has been phenomenal, Robinson said.

“I was so surprised by how many competitors have reached out,” she said, adding that they offered machine capacity, manpower and more. “We are so blown away.”

Employees are encouraged to apply for unemployment benefits because of the fire. Robinson Industries is paying their insurance for three months.

“The union has been so good in working with us,” she added. “Employees have been patient. Everyone has put aside their differences and come together.”

While the fire was still burning, Robinson said there were managers inside holding a strategy meeting. She said that was something to see. Robinson said they were trying to get in front of the issue.

Sucharski and Robinson are also grateful to the many firefighters and departments that assisted, too. Robinson said Monday that during the fire, firefighters stood between the fire and the propane tank, keeping it from exploding.

“They were heroes,” she said.

The Coleman Community Fire Department along with 13 other fire departments sprayed the blaze with more than one-million gallons of water and spent about six hours extinguishing it. Assisting them were Edenville Township, Jerome Township, Mills Township, Hope Township, Larkin Township, Lee Township, Midland Township, Homer Township, Beaverton Area Fire Department, Gladwin, Secord Township, Billings Township, Clare, Harrison Community Fire Department, MyMichigan EMS, Midland County Sheriff’s Office, Midland County Central Dispatch, Midland County Emergency Management, Gladwin County Emergency Management, Delisle Excavating, American Red Cross, and many community members and businesses that ensured all of the first responders had food, water, coffee, and Gatorade.