When fire broke out at the New Pig Corporation in Tipton Thursday evening, each of the 300 employees, affectionately known as “Piggers,” had the same thing in mind – this isn’t going to slow us down.
And they were right.
According to Carl DeCaspers, public relations director with New Pig, just hours after the devastating fire that completely destroyed the No. 2 building of the plant, employees were back at their jobs – not necessarily at the same place – but working to show why New Pig is the best at what it does.
“We were up and running at full blast by 8 a.m. the next day,” said DeCaspers. “We didn’t miss a beat.”
Authorities were first notified of the blaze at approximately 9:50 p.m. on Halloween night. Crews from more than 20 fire companies from four counties battled the blaze well into the night, but contained the inferno to just the single building.
“We really don’t have any figures we can quote that could tell how much loss we suffered or how much damage was caused,” said DeCaspers. “There’s questions that we all want answers to, but we need to be patient. Once we know, we’ll make sure the pubic knows also.”
According to DeCasper, the fire damaged perhaps the most essential division of the plant. The No. 2 building is described as a warehouse.
“This is the building where we kept all of our inventory,” he said. “But there were other divisions here also, including customer service and shipping and receiving.”
Currently, New Pig’s products are being stored in facilities around the area.
“Right now, we’re looking for temporary places not only for storage, but somewhere we can put some people,” he said. “Right now, we have a ton of people crammed into building No. 1, but we also have people in some areas of Altoona.
“We’re still scrambling to take care of everything, but I think this company is doing a great job with that.”
And what DeCaspers credits most is the employees.
“Everybody here is real proud of how all the Piggers handled themselves with the catastrophe,” said DeCaspers. “That’s typical of these workers. The spirit is incredible, the teamwork is good, and everybody is showing that high-degree of energy essential to run a top-notch operation.”
The big question is: Does the company plan to rebuild?
“Of course,” said DeCasper, “the plans are already in the works to rebuild and replace what we lost here Thursday night. It’s one of those situations where we don’t know exactly what or when. All we know is that this is something that has to be done.
“And we’re the kind of company that’s going to do it.”
