CALIFORNIA (From news reports) -- A Procter & Gamble Co. manufacturing plant that makes Charmin toilet paper and Bounty paper towels suffered fire damage Monday, but workers are getting equipment affected by the blaze back into service.
Employees reportedly were working at the plant when the fire broke out before 2 a.m. March 30. No injuries were reported as a result of the blaze, which impacted 10% of the P&G complex in Oxnard, Calif.
The blaze was extinguished by 4 a.m. by more than 50 firefighters from three area departments, according to the local fire department.
"Production was not halted," said Tonia Elrod, a spokeswoman for the Cincinnati-based maker of consumer goods. "We are still producing and shipping Charmin and Bounty product."
Both Charmin and Bounty are in huge demand among consumers because of the outbreak of coronavirus, with many people stocking up on necessities as they hunker down at home.
Elrod declined to disclose the cause of the fire or an estimate on the cost of damage to the 51-year-old manufacturing plant. She also declined to specify what kind of equipment was affected.
"What's important is that Charmin is on the way," she said.
The P&G plant, which is along the coast between Malibu and Santa Barbara, also caught fire in 2009.
Hundreds of employees work at the plant at 800 N. Rice Ave.
P&G bought the plant in 1973 from International Paper and has invested more than $200 million in machinery at the site since 1993.
Procter & Gamble has 24 manufacturing plants in 18 states, plus two plants in Canada. Together, they support a network of more than 11,000 suppliers and small businesses.
Despite government-ordered shutdowns in some states because of COVID-19, P&G's manufacturing plants and distribution centers across the U.S. and Canada have been deemed essential and continue to operate to provide critical health, hygiene and cleaning products to consumers and other essential businesses
