COVID-19
Fire breaks out in ductwork at toilet paper plant
The facility produces Bounty brand paper towels and Charmin toilet paper.
On Monday morning, society came that much closer to collapse when a fire broke out around 1:42 a.. at the Procter & Gamble (P&G) paper products plant in Oxnard, California. As reported by the Ventura County Star, the facility produces Bounty brand paper towels and Charmin toilet paper, and no one was injured in the blaze.
Normally, a routine fire incident such as this would not make national headlines. However, with toilet paper being in such high demand during our current COVID-19 state of affairs, let's just say things could have been a lot worse. From the Ventura County Star's report:
Workers make Bounty Paper Towels and Charmin Toilet Paper at the 51-year-old facility. Both types of products have become difficult to find in the wake of shoppers' stampede to hoard supplies during the coronavirus outbreak.
Company spokeswoman Tonia Elrod said the plant has been making the products at record levels to meet demand and will continue to do so despite the fire.
About 10 percent of the facility was affected by the fire, and firefighters are said to have put out flames in the facilities ductwork. “Production has not halted,” said Elrod. “We are still producing and shipping Charmin and Bounty product.”
P&G acquired the Oxnard plant from International Paper in 1973. It took around 50 firefighters to put out the blaze and the cause of the fire is still under investigation.
For more stories related to the COVID-19 pandemic, follow SNIPS' COVID-19 coverage page.
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