After an early-evening fire that took firefighters 10 hours to extinguish, Green Circle Growers is already moving into recovery mode, making alternative plans for production and thanking the community for its support.
“We strategically built our greenhouse and production facilities to minimize the impact of events like this,” says Scott Giesbrecht, co-owner and VP of sales at Green Circle. “In addition to having alternative production areas in other parts of the facility, we have great relationships with other greenhouses throughout the country if the need arises to have plants grown for us to satisfy our customers’ demands. This fire, while a significant event, only impacted 5 percent of the growing space we use, and we are already working on preparations to repair this area.”
The 600-employee operation grows indoor and outdoor plants under 105 acres of greenhouse in Oberlin, Ohio. In a statement from Green Circle, Giesbrecht expressed concern for the safety of its employees and the firefighters who controlled the fire. No one was hurt in the fire or in the process of putting out the fire. And the community around the Oberlin area and across the country has offered support.
“We are extremely thankful for the outpouring of support already from individuals and businesses in the surrounding community and across the country,” Giesbrecht says. “We are also blessed to have a great team at Green Circle that is already working together to ensure any interruption of daily business is kept to a minimum. As we work through the next few days, we will keep our customer and industry partners informed of our progress in keeping their business running smoothly.”