Six weeks after the fire, a majority of the cheese inventory had been saved, process equipment cleaned and packed out, temporary packaging facilities setup by retrofitting the existing retail store on site & structural repairs commenced.

This temporary packaging facility allowed Pine river to continue to sell cheese from their existing inventory throughout the reconstruction.

Miles of process piping such as in this picture and equipment were affected by the fire.

Milk Receiving Bay after the fire.

The first challenge was to replace the existing standing seam roof and purlins before winter. Materials were obtained by Nov. (through much negotiation with the pre-eng. building manufacturer) & the complete roof replacement was done by the second week of December. Construction had to negotiate very high winds that were common to this lakeside location. The last piece of roofing was put in place on the very last day before the largest winter storm of the season.

In addition to the damaged roof and purlins, several columns and rafters had to be carefully replaced. Engineered shoring plans were carefully implemented in many of the replacement procedures.

Several coreslab segments had to be replaced on the mezzanine above the milk room.

MAny of the interior block partitions had to be reconstructed

Pine River asked me to redesign their retail store & this is the result. We had the store open in time for the May 24th weekend and the important tourist season that was starting.

The very first batch of cheese after the reconstruction.

Redesigned stainless steel cheese press.

"Cheddaring"

Curds spilling onto the drain table

Brand new milk receiving bay.