When a fire breaks out at a place of business, communicating with the media is normally not at the top of the priority list.
Nor should it be.
Instead, the company should be first taking care of its employees and their needs, second, be doing whatever possible to bring company operations back to normal, and third, cooperating with and expressing their appreciation to the firefighters and other emergency workers who risked their own safety to bring the fire under control.
Somewhere further down the line comes the media, and that’s O.K.
Frequent updates offered
Unfortunately, several poultry and pork companies covered by WATT Global Media have experienced fires in recent years. All have done a commendable job in informing the media about what has happened, but having said that, House of Raeford Farms, which has experienced the most recent poultry plant fire, has gone above and beyond expectations. The fire took place late on the evening of February 25 in Teachey, North Carolina.
The company issued information concerning the fire early in the morning after the 11:30 p.m. fire took place. An update on the situation came about 12 hours later. Mind you, this was on Sunday, a day of rest to many. Daily updates were given concerning offering assurances that operations in Teachey would return, the reassignment of some employees during the tough time, and preliminary results of the fire investigation.
While I mentioned three priorities that should come before talking to the media, it is apparent attention is being paid to those three, through reading the content of House of Raeford's press releases.
I appreciate all that House of Raeford is doing to keep the media and the public abreast of the situation, and I wish the company and its employees nothing but the best throughout this difficult time.
