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By Editor Becky Watts
CONCORD - Quality Pallet Systems in Concord caught fire and began burning around 11 a.m. this morning. The employees were able to get almost all of the equipment out of the building, and no one was injured. Volunteers from the Pike County Fire Department brought trucks and equipment to the scene to fight the fire.
South Georgia Ambulance was there on the scene along with equipment from Pike County Fire Department Stations 1, 2, 3, and 8 and personnel from Stations 5, 6, 7, and 8. Personnel were still on the scene long into the afternoon. Concord Cafe provided lunch to the volunteers.
The pallet company has a long history in Concord. According to an article from the Pike County Journal in July of 1939, this community cannery was first opened and operated in 1937 by the Strickland Family in Concord. Anyone from Concord and Pike County could use the cannery and the only expense was the cost of the cans. Thank you to Local Historian Lynn Cunningham for this information.
Concord Mayor John Strickland advised that this building was the old cannery and had been a part of a complex that included a grist mill, planing mill, and fertilizer plant all in one operated by a steam engine that also operated the cannery. He said that when it was a cannery, it supported a lot of people with seasonal work and was a big operation for a while. Peaches and pimientos were the main products.
It remained as a cannery until the late 1960's when it was sold to Mr. Donahue from Williamson. Besto Products may have bought it after that. And then Ron Pennington bought it and had a pallet shop there until he sold it to current owners Jerry and Chris Irby in 1982.
I spoke to Mr. Irby there on the property today as our firefighters were putting out the blaze. He told me that employees removed most of the equipment from the building, and they were moving tractor trailor bodies away from the flames. It sounded like he would continue the business in another building until he could rebuild on this property.
Many thanks to all who gave their time today putting out this fire during a time when many people are at work. More photos are below this article.
Left: There were a whole lot of hoses lines up between the trucks on the scene. It took some time to get them back on the trucks after the fire was out.
Right: These are the air bottles being used on the scene. Empty bottles are in the back and full bottles are in the front.
The pallet building was a part of this historical section of buildings and looked much like this in the late 1930's when it was built. Photo courtesy of Mayor John Strickland.