Monmouth City Administrator Lowell Crow says more employees will be back on the job tomorrow at the Smithfield plant in Monmouth, following a Labor Day fire that severely burned a fat rendering room and completely shutting down operations for a day.
Today, the plant brought back employees who work in the cold cutting portion of the facility for a trial run.
“They had 12,000 carcuses hanging in their refrigeration that they needed to process when the fire occurred,” Crow says.
Tomorrow, employees who work in the slaughter section of the plant are expected to be brought back to work for a similar test day. Crow says investigators are checking more and more sections of the plant each day, which is “good news.”
It’s still unclear though when full operations will resume or whether any jobs will be lost. Crow said yesterday that financial assistance from the state would be available if need be.
“If anybody is laid off, that assistance is available,” Crow says. “We’re working with local food banks as well to make sure that’s there if anybody is laid off. As of right now, Smithfield has announced no layoffs.”
This is an ongoing story and we’ll continue to bring you updates as they come in on WGIL.