St. Charles considers its future

ST. CHARLES, MINN. -- Residents returned to unscarred homes here Saturday, but confronted an uncertain economic future in the aftermath of a fire that devastated one of the town's largest employers and forced a mass evacuation.

The Friday fire that devoured North Star Foods threatens to rob the town of 250 jobs, leaving families without incomes, stores without customers and City Hall without a major revenue source.

Rogelio Molina, who had worked for five years at the plant that processed beef, pork and poultry products, had dreamed of buying a house in St. Charles with his wife, Gloria. On Saturday morning, however, the couple and their two boys were unsure if they could afford to stay in town without jobs.

"Most of the workers are waiting to see what happens," he said.

North Star's local owners said they planned to meet with employees Tuesday, but declared the plant a total loss and said it could take $75 million and up to two years to rebuild the facility.

"This is one of those times you get to find out how good your insurance is," said co-owner Patrick Thesing, noting that the blaze consumed not only buildings but also about 1 million pounds of meat.

The plant's demise also eliminated one of the city's largest customers for water, power and sewer services, straining a $7 million budget that will also have to absorb the costs of fighting Friday's fire. "We had a major loss of a cornerstone business," said St. Charles Mayor Bill Spitzer.

He said he expects the bill for the city to be "staggering.''

Spitzer said he ordered the town evacuated Friday afternoon, after learning that flames were nearing tanks of anhydrous ammonia. A rupture or explosion of the tanks could have formed a deadly plume over the tiny southeastern Minnesota town.

"We went to my dad's house," said Missy Wegman, who lives across the street from the plant. She and her partner, Jared Severson, were home on Friday when they saw the fire. It wasn't until a police officer told them to flee that they worried. They had five minutes to get their son, Tanner, 5, and family dog into their Jeep. Severson said they brought clothes but not much else.

"You don't know what to grab until you get to the top of the hill," said Severson, who drove his family to Wegman's father's house in the nearby town of Dover. "A lot of people in town have family close by."

About 60 people spent the night at St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church on the outskirts of St. Charles, the largest of three Red Cross shelters set up to house evacuees.

A crew of up to 70 firefighters from St. Charles and neighboring towns fought the blaze through the night, extinguishing it by 6 a.m., said St. Charles Fire Chief Lyle Peterson. State fire marshals were investigating the fire Saturday, but had not determined a cause.

The town was declared safe Saturday morning, and police opened barricades at 10:30 a.m.

As a line of cars drove into town along Hwy. 14, resident Curtis Waby rolled down the side of the highway on his John Deere riding lawnmower. He was at his house just a few blocks from the meat plant when the evacuation order was given. He jumped on the John Deere, his usual ride, and rolled out to the church for the night.

"It's comfortable," he said of the tractor.

Workers on the job when the flames erupted had even less time to flee.

"A lot of people lost their personal things because there wasn't time to get things out," said Harry Zeitler, a 29-year employee of the plant. He saw smoke coming off the top of the building, but it was the managers he heard on the plant's radio that told him the fire was serious.

"It was in their voices," he said. "Knowing the people and knowing the change in their voices, you knew it wasn't good."

A majority of the employees were drawn to the area by the promise of steady work and a quiet community to raise families, said Rogelio Molina. He brought his wife and two boys to St. Charles five years ago to escape Chicago, where he had delivered food for a restaurant.

The Chicago job was dangerous, he said, and he was frequently robbed. He finally quit after a thief held a gun to his head and a cousin told him about St. Charles and North Star.

As his family waited in the church shelter to learn what had become of their apartment and his job, he was reluctant to think about leaving. "This town is good for my sons," he said.

Matt McKinney • 612-673-7329