Crews were called to the plant, located at 112 N. Portage St., around 6:40 a.m. for a reported roof fire. Departments on scene included Westfield, Portland, Ellery Center, Ripley, Chautauqua County EMS, Mayville, Sherman and Brocton. The fire was said to be out a little before 8 a.m.

In a message posted to Facebook, the Westfield Fire Department said the fire was caused by an overheated exhaust flue that ignited the roof material, composed of styrofoam and rubber.

“It was limited to one room,” General Manager Steve Cockram said. “There is some water damage from putting out the fire.”

Cockram reported all of the workers at the co-op were fine and that nobody had any issues. The main focus now is sorting through potential water in the electric system before turning the electric back on. Cockram said they are still working to determine how significant that damage might be.

Deparments on the scene included Westfield, Portland, Ellery Center, Ripley, Chautauqua County EMS, Mayville, Sherman and Brocton. Photo courtesy of Fire Department of Westfield’s Facebook

“There will be some significant repairs needed,” he said. “Grape harvest season is in three weeks, so they will have to be done by then. The facility needs to be 100% by harvest season.”

Grower’s Co-Op is a supplier of grape and berry juices, concentrates and purees to a variety of prominent food and beverage companies. They also process wine grapes and other berries, including blueberry, cherry, blackberry, raspberry and cranberry. The co-op offers a variety of packaging and shipment options.

Altogether Cockram said the facility has 80 farms that rely on them, delivering 30,000 tons of grapes. Cockram said they will not allow the fire to affect these farms in any way, promising to have everything remedied by harvest time.

While the day-to-day production will be affected, with the co-op currently in the midst of working on cherry production, Cockram hopes to be back up and running for that later in the week.

Cockram thanked all of the departments involved for their work in putting out the fire.

An early morning fire on Wednesday at Growers’ Co-Op Juice Co. in Westfield left the facility with damage to mainly one room. P-J photo by Dan Kohler

“I’d like to thank the Westfield Police Department, Fire Department and the other departments that provided mutual aid,” he said. “When you have a fire, they came and did exactly what you would want them to do.”