Restoring fire-torn lives piece by piece
September 15, 2016
GreenEarth Affiliate Enviroclean out of Ft. McMurray, Alberta, CA is in the news again. This time for the work they are doing to piece their community back together.
It was the largest wildfire evacuation in Albertan history. When the Horse River Fire swept through the town of Fort McMurray in May, about 80,000 residents left the city right before flames destroyed approximately 2,400 homes and buildings.
Many Canadians couldn’t return for a month; others will still have to wait many more before they can open their homes. Those who did come back, though, had damages to repair, and one business — EnviroClean Drycleaners — wanted to do its part to help people recover something as simple and necessary as their smoke-damaged wardrobes.
The business, owned by the father-and-son team of Wayne and Ryan Pinkney, first opened its doors in late 2014, making it a newcomer to the market; however, what the company lacked in experience, it more than made up for in effort to help the people of Fort McMurray.
EnviroClean was one of the first businesses back open for business following the conclusion of the month-long evacuation. The Pinkneys gave their employees a “resettlement allowance” to make sure they could get back to town as soon as possible and take on the immense workload. The plant has been running at peak capacity ever since. At one point, an employee shift lasted until 4 a.m.
“In June, we hardly had any days off,” recalled plant manager Cindy Julation. “Starting at the end of July, I finally gave them a day off a week… until now. It’s still one day a week and we’re working 12 hours a day.”
According to the elder Pinkney, the business is handling the work of over a dozen clothes restoration companies who sought them out as they were the only cleaners in the middle of downtown.