Fire Strikes Tropitone Complex

July 22, 2007  by in UnCategorized   

By Home Furnishings Business in Casual Furniture on July 2007 Lightning from a massive thunderstorm set a building ablaze at a Tropitone Furniture factory complex in Bradenton, Fla., but company officials said the factory will resume normal production today, according to published reports.

Tropitone Vice President Steve Swartz told the Bradenton Herald newspaper that fire erupted in an empty annex building at about 4 p.m. Saturday during a thunderstorm that dropped four inches of rain on the area. Security camera video showed a lightning strike likely ignited the fire in a 20,000-square-foot building, Swartz told the newspaper.

A report in the Herald Tribune of Sarasota said the fire caused more than $1 million in damage to the annex building that stands about 100 feet behind the factory. About 20 employees who work in the annex will be shifted to the main facility until the fire damage is repaired. The factory employees more than 200 people.