Pac-nor loopfabriek in brand verwoes

[tripodmvr]

The Pac-Nor Barreling production center in Oregon burned to the ground yesterday morning, October 23rd. The 7000-square-foot barrel-making facility located near Brookings, Oregon, was destroyed in a massive fire that apparently started with an electrical fault. There were nine workers in the facility at the time the fire broke out. All exited the building safely.

Millions of dollars of production machinery and barrels were lost in the fire. The facility is insured, but Pac-Nor President Chris Dichter said he was not sure if the plant would be re-built: “Thirty-five years of my life went up in this fire. I am 66 years-old and I don’t know if I have the time left. It took my lifetime to find all the machinery in this plant.”

The building and machinery inside were worth between four and six million dollars, Dichter estimated. There is insurance, but it is not clear whether Pac-Nor will resume production in the future.

How did the fire start? Chris Dichter said there were sparks when a electical conduit for a lathe was removed from a wall socket. Then when power was shut off from the main breaker, there was a blast of flame from the wall, almost like an explosion. Dichter declared: “I’d never seen anything go like that. It blew up with smoke and fire. It sounded like a tree fell on the plant.”