Green Bay Converting expects to return to full operation following fire

GREEN BAY – At Approximately 7:45 a.m. on Monday, March 16, the Green Bay Metro Fire Department was dispatched to a fire alarm at 2200 Larsen Road (Green Bay Converting).

Over the course of multiple days, emergency crews from across Brown County assisted in putting the fire out, including Howard Fire Rescue, De Pere Fire Rescue, Suamico Fire Department, Wrightstown Fire Department, Ledgeview Fire Department, Hobart Fire Department, Pulaski Tri-County Fire Department, Lawrence Fire Department and Denmark Fire Department.

Now, five weeks later, leaders at Green Bay Converting are still working towards recovery.

“The fire destroyed the warehouse and inventory,” Green Bay Converting leadership said. “Our production facility and equipment were largely preserved, although smoke and water did enter the facility. Our other operations continue to support current customer needs wherever possible.”

Recovering, they said, will come in multiple phases.

“The first phase has focused on cleaning our production equipment, and that work is now more than 50% complete,” company leaders said. “The next phase will focus on the cleaning, repair, and remediation of the structure itself, including the walls, floors, ceilings, and insulation. While we are still awaiting additional information from third parties that will help determine the ultimate recovery timeline, we remain hopeful that we will be able to reoccupy our offices and restart production in a portion of the Larsen facility within the next 60 days.”

A return to full production is expected to occur during the summer, but there is still more work to be done.

“The rebuild of our warehouse will take longer, but that should not significantly limit our ability to restart production,” company leaders said.

With a return to full production still several months out, Green Bay Converting leaders said, “We have continued to carry our full payroll and support our workforce since the fire, while our employees understandably seek clear direction on the path forward. Due to the disruption to operations and the timeline required to return to our pre-fire scale, we have made the difficult decision to support some of our employees in transitioning to employment elsewhere. Fewer than 35 of our more than 200 employees in Green Bay are impacted by this decision. We are supporting those employees with financial assistance, transition resources through the company, and coordination with state and local employment agencies.”