St. Charles, Minn. - A fire destroys the North Star Foods plant in St. Charles, Minn. on April 17. The fire occurred shortly after 10 a.m. The town was evacuated when the food plant went up in flames threatening the residence's health with its toxic flames. Residence are now back in their homes, but the effects of the fire are still very much present. North Star plans on rebuilding in St. Charles, but the effects of the fire have left many individuals without jobs for the time being and water streams in nearby White Water State Park contaminated causing many of its fish to die.
When it comes to crisis communication, the city of St. Charles and all reporters and officials involved did a great job. They immediately informed the individuals involved and then informed the media. With such a large evacuation, it is easy for rumors to surface, but officials did a great job of getting the facts out as soon as they could so that these rumors did not occur.
One minor problem is some speculation has occurred over the recent death of fish. It has not technically been released that the fish in Whitewater died due to the fire, but it is a given. The situation is under investigation, but initial reports have connected the deaths directly to the fire due to leaks of ammonium in the streams. This is a case of speculation, but for all of the chances for speculation to occur, overall they did a great job of hindering it.
I am sure that North Star Foods given that it is a large company, has a crisis plan for situations like this. They will have to use a lot of public relations in the next months if not years to return a positive image to the community. They have already regained some of it by deciding to rebuild in St. Charles again and not relocating, but they still have a long way to go.
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I never heard about that fire, but it sounds like the city officials were on top of things, taking care of the disaster and practicing effective communication. I also agree with you that at times like that, rumors occur quite a bit. I know in Valley City there were rumors all around. When city officials make mistakes in communication, rumors tend to get out of proportion. Also, especially in smaller communities, I think people tend to rely on word-of-mouth a lot. That is how stories change. I think it's important for city officials to be on top of things to reduce the chance of rumors starting and continuing. Good post!
ReplyDeleteI am in the same boat as Heidi. I had never heard about the fire. It is crazy how many evacuations are going on around the same time. I think in times of crisis such as this and the crisis in Valley City, communication is key. When a fire blazes up out of nowhere there isn't much time to react so if you are evacuating you need to get a hold of everyone as soon as possible. It sounds like the city of St. Charles did a pretty good job.
ReplyDeleteThat is a great example of a crisis communication plan put into action. And an effective one by the sounds of it. The city officials informed the individuals that were directly effected by it first because of their safetly and then put out a release to the city. The communication between all the officials had to be great so there were no mix ups in the facts. Like you stated, they kept the rumors and speculations to a minimum by getting out the facts right away.
ReplyDeleteJeez, that sounds like a pretty serious situation. Its really sad that it killed off a lot of the fish in the nearby river. Crisis plans are extremely important in times like this. If it isn't well put together, the company could take a huge hit. But if a company has a very well put together plan and executes it. The company could come back stronger than it was before the fire.
ReplyDeleteSt. Charles and the North Star Foods plant had a perfect plan and planned for the worst thing to happen. You never know when a fire will start and it’s amazing how the city handled it. It sounds like everyone got out of town safely and the main thing is to make sure people are safe when a crisis happens. Could you image what could have happened if the city wasn’t prepared for a crisis like this or didn’t let the people in the city know about it right away.
ReplyDeleteI like how the company decided to rebuild in the small community. Being from a small town, I understand how important every job is to the community and as soon as one leaves, the rest seem to follow shortly thereafter. Some companies might have taken their insurance money and moved on to greener pastures, so to speak, but they aren't. I think this will help their public image (if it wasn't high already)and build a good relationship with their community.
ReplyDeleteI also have never heard of this fire before, however, it is clear that city officials have done a good job in enacting their crisis communication plan. It seems that they managed to get everyone out, and minimize the damages as best as possible. As well, I also feel it was a good move for the company to rebuild in the small town. In doing so it will eliminate most of the bitter feeling that residents might have had. Relocating after a crisis such as this most definitely would have been an easy out for this company, but at the same time, bad PR.
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