Twin Disasters
Mail Marketing Inc., Haworth, NJ, is continuing operations after a late-April fire damaged the building from which it had run its business for the past 28 years. The list management and brokerage firm hasrented space next door to its offices at 171 Terrace St. and in nearby Northvale, says Hal Roberson, who has been president of the company for 12 years. Despite the disruption, all staffers have the same phone and fax numbers.
“We were filling orders 48 hours after the fire,” Roberson says.
Even though the building sustained extensive smoke and water damage, the company was able to recover many current records and files kept in metal file cabinets and desks on the second floor. Numerous old records stored in the basement were lost.
Plans call for a move back to the original site, which Roberson expects will be rebuilt in about four months.
Roberson adds that he doesn’t believe the business has been affected by the disaster. “We think most of our clients are understanding and confident of our capabilities and are still there for us,” he says.
The fire swept through the empty two-story building, built in 1904, at about 7 a.m. on April 21. Roberson was notified immediately by an employee’s husband, who volunteers as a firefighter in a nearby town. “I was there with the first two trucks,” he says.
Haworth fire department chief Barry Connell says the blaze started in a storeroom. A gas space heater that was either defective or left on a high setting ignited nearby papers and boxes.
The building originally was the site of Haworth’s town hall, library and local fire department.
