A fire and resulting explosion has destroyed a shipping facility belonging to Greenberg Smoked Turkey, located in Tyler, Texas. Nobody was injured in the fire, which occurred on November 6, but the company has been forced to halt production for the remainder of 2020.

According to the Dallas Morning News, the fire started in one of the company’s facilities due to a mechanical failure. The fire spread to one of the company’s freezers, which was storing 87,000 turkeys, and caused the unit to explode and burn the inventory and nearby packaging materials. The fire took two days to extinguish. The smokehouse, which was about 1,000 feet away, was undamaged.

In a post on the company’s website, owner Sam Greenberg, grandson of the company’s founder, wrote the following:

“On the evening of November 6th, we experienced a catastrophic fire at our shipping facility. Both our inventory and our ability to ship this season have been destroyed. We are thankful this occurred after hours and no one was injured! Unfortunately we will not have any turkeys to be shipped or picked up this Thanksgiving or Christmas Season.

We are working around the clock on refunding all orders that were scheduled to deliver after November 6th, and are deeply sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.

Please know we have already begun the process of rebuilding and will be back stronger than ever in 2021… We are grateful to have the best customers in the world, and are proud to have been a part of your holiday tradition for so many years. Please invite us back to your table next year!”

Greenberg told the News that the fire was the “perfect storm” to shut down the business for good, but he has no such plans. “We will rebuild. We will be smoking turkeys in 2021," he said. "And to hell with 2020.”

Source: Greenberg Smoked Turkey Inc., Dallas Morning News