Webster Engineering and Manufacturing is staying in Winfield and the company’s post-fire plans include a new office building with room for expansion, a company official said Wednesday.
Ted Wrona, the company’s president, said some demolition work on the company’s building – which was damaged by a major fire in November – has already begun. The fire, which was determined to be electrical in nature, started in the center section of the building where offices were housed.
Wrona said the north and south ends of the Webster building, located at 619 Industrial Blvd., were salvageable.
Already, the company, which makes burners for use in industrial settings, has returned a paint shop, shipping department and test area to parts of the building that suffered less damage.
“We’ll repair what we can and rebuild the central office area,” Wrona said.
Factory areas of the revamped plant should be operational by mid May. Offices areas should be equipped and ready for business in mid July.
Winfield city commissioner Phil Jarvis said he knew Webster was leaning toward staying in Winfield and was happy to hear plans have been finalized.
City manager Warren Porter deserves credit for reaching out to Webster officials after the fire and expressing the city’s desire to help the company when possible, Jarvis said.
“We recognize the value of Webster to Winfield,” he said. “We understand the value of the jobs they provide and always made sure the message was clear, that we wanted them to stay. I’m glad they have decided to do that.”
At the time of the fire the company employed about 70 or so people and 61 or 62 of those employees are back at work. Rebuilding plans will increase the size of Webster’s facility from just under 50,000 square feet to roughly 60,000 square feet.
Plans include another 5,000 feet of space that could be used to accommodate future growth.
Wrona said the company considered a location in Ark City and looked at the former Gordon-Piatt building at Strother Field as possible places to permanently relocate. He said the city of Winfield’s attitude in helping the company was a major factor in Webster’s decision to stay put.
“They stepped to the plate in every way they needed to,” Wrona said. “The city has gone above and beyond anything we expected.”
The company is currently utilizing production space at the former Binney & Smith building and will do so until the rebuilding project is complete.
As of January, the company had continued to perform to budget expectations set last summer.
November’s fire was eventually traced to overloaded electrical circuitry in a wall of Webster’s office area. No exact appliance was identified as the culprit.
“At this point, it doesn’t really matter anyway,” Wrona said. “We’re back to doing business.”
Jarvis said helping Webster succeed in rebuilding is part of a city strategy to help existing businesses succeed.
“The odds of us landing another Rubbermaid or Binney & Smith are astronomical,” he said. “So we have to support our existing industries.”
