Lightning has been blamed for a fire that totaled the production facilities of an Indiana bean-bag-filling operation. D&D Plastics, which operates under parent company PC Polymers Inc., ceased its polystyrene bead expanding and bag-filling operations for four days after the May 19 fire.
Work resumed at the company's sister firm, Hoehn Plastics Inc., according to Paul Higgins, Hoehn sales and marketing manager.
All three firms are based in Poseyville, Ind.
Hoehn said none of D&D's 16 employees were working at the time of the fire — reported around midnight — but the company was about to enter an increased production period, which would have included a second shift.
"This is our slow season," Higgins said in a telephone interview. "We're getting ready to come into our busy season, so it's putting a pinch on things here."
Included in the damage to the 24,000-square-foot facility was the loss of eight hoppers for filling bags, large storage bags for expanded PS beads and one grinder.
Unaffected by the fire, however, were two separate buildings, including a warehouse and a grinding facility.
Higgins said fire officials blamed lightning for the blaze, and damage is estimated at $400,000-$600,000.
Higgins said 13 volunteer fire departments from southwest Indiana took about six hours to quell the flames.
D&D reported 1999 sales of about $2.2 million, Higgins said.