Fire At The Soucy Belgen Sainte-Claire Foundry, 1 Year Later

Recovering from a disaster can be a highly stressful and complex process. After a major fire forced the Soucy Belgen Sainte-Claire subsidiary to temporarily close in March 2022, our employees and community rallied together!

At approximately 5:30 a.m. on Saturday, March 19, 2022, a fire broke out in the warehouse of the Soucy Belgen Sainte-Claire foundry. Fortunately, firefighters from the city and surrounding areas were able to eventually control the fire but the two warehouses were levelled and the production floor was flooded. The building was deemed completely unusable. The total losses amounted to more than $10 million.

As the blaze raged on, many citizens and employees pumped water to protect the building and property as much as possible. Their invaluable assistance is a testament to how much they care!

One of our priorities is to recognize the commitment of our employees. That’s why it’s so important to us to make sure their jobs are secure. In line with our company’s values, we continued to pay our employees’ salaries to limit the negative impact of the fire on staff and their families. We are proud to say that no one stopped working! Everyone found a way to contribute during this turbulent period.

For instance, we offered affected staff temporary positions in other subsidiaries such as the Soucy Belgen foundry in Drummondville and provided them with accommodations. Employees who preferred to stay in their hometown took on positions that helped us restore the Sainte-Claire building.

Our goal was to resume our operations as quickly as possible, both for our customers and our employees. To this end, we mobilized every stakeholder. Even our company’s founder Gilles Soucy was involved. His inspiring entrepreneurship helped accelerate the process.

As we rebuilt our facilities, we made connections with other foundries that could meet the demands of many of our customers. This collaboration helped limit the impact on our customers, who have remained very loyal to us.

Today, we are proud to say that the foundry is operational! While our warehouses are still being rebuilt, we’ve made sure to rely on innovative solutions that have enabled us to meet customers’ demand, bring back every employee on site, and even create new jobs.

For now, we are relying on external warehouses and our production floor. We are very confident we will be able to fully restore our foundry while improving the building and the way we work. We can proudly state that we’ve turned a challenge into an opportunity!

We are aware that the March 2022 disaster was a challenge for all our employees, clients, suppliers, and partners. Thank you to all those who helped us get through this ordeal. You have allowed us to emerge from this experience stronger. We were and continue to be sustained by our team spirit, our desire to support each other, and our constant drive to reach new heights in the face of a major challenge.

We truly believe we are surrounded by the best people!