On March 12, 2025, a furniture manufacturing facility experienced a major electrical fire involving the facility’s primary switchgear system at its 75,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Jasper, Georgia. The incident caused a complete power outage and widespread smoke contamination throughout the facility, creating unsafe working conditions and forcing an immediate shutdown of operations.
Commercial Disaster Recovery (CDR) was contacted on March 13 at 10:00 a.m. and responded immediately to assess the damage and develop a recovery strategy focused on restoring power, stabilizing operations, and minimizing business interruption.
To support the client’s return to production, CDR bypassed the damaged electrical switchgear and constructed a temporary switchgear on site to restore power to the facility. Temporary power support remained in place for six months while the permanent switchgear system was dismantled and rebuilt.
Recovery efforts included a comprehensive cleaning of the entire facility, beginning with production equipment and operational areas to confirm functionality before addressing the building itself. Throughout the cleanup and restoration process, CDR worked closely with Commercial Interiors to help maintain operations and minimize downtime.
Services Provided
- Emergency response and site stabilization
- Temporary power installation and switchgear bypass
- Smoke and soot remediation
- Environmental cleaning and decontamination
- Production equipment cleaning and restoration
- Asset restoration and equipment recovery
- Electrical infrastructure coordination and restoration support
- Facility cleaning and operational recovery support
- Demolition and debris removal
- Project management and restoration coordination
Key Challenges
- Complete loss of power caused by severe switchgear fire damage
- Smoke contamination throughout production and operational areas
- Maintaining business operations during restoration activities
- Developing and implementing a temporary power solution on an accelerated timeline
- Coordinating recovery efforts while permanent electrical infrastructure was rebuilt
