THOMAS Foods International is promising it will come back bigger and better in Murray Bridge, in the wake of a devastating fire that ripped through one of the nation’s largest abattoirs.

TFI chief executive Darren Thomas said some of the company’s 1400 employees would be redeployed to its Lobethal abattoir, but would not say if there would be redundancies.

“Moving forward there is going to be disruption to the Murray Bridge facility but it’s too early to say how long that is going to be,” Mr Thomas said.

“The most important thing to me is the staff and wellbeing of our workers, because there are many of them.

“The main focus over the ensuing months is to ensure our employees are employed in whatever format that might be.”

media_camera The raging fire at the Thomas Foods International facility outside Murray Bridge. Picture: Leanne Walding Photography

media_camera Thomas Foods managing director Darren Thomas. Picture: AAP / Roy Vandervegt

A 24-hour hotline and community centre has been set up in Murray Bridge, where 1400 people are employed at the abattoir.

Mr Thomas vowed to reopen the Murray Bridge site and their Lobethal and Tamworth operations would manage its small stock production in the meantime.

Beef orders would be processed at other sites.

“We’ll be back bigger, better and stronger, we’re committed to this industry,” he said, saying the business would stand by his “family” of workers.

“At their time of need we’re not going to be walking away from them,” Mr Thomas said.

“I’ve seen 20 years of my life almost evaporate before my eyes, but I’m committed more than ever to return Murray Bridge back to the jewel in the crown that it was in South Australia.”

Investigations underway into SA abattoir blaze Investigations underway into SA abattoir blaze

The Metropolitan Fire Service spokesman Phil Kilsby confirmed the blaze was started accidentally by a worker who was outside welding an offal bin.

“Unfortunately it’s gone into a highly combustible wall and spread through the premises quite rapidly,” Mr Kilsby said adding that the threat from the blaze to factory workers was “extremely serious”.

The 24-hour hotline — 1800 302 787 — will begin operation from 8am Friday and is for employees and the broader community for questions or concerns.

The community centre has been established at the Murray Bridge Town Hall, at 13-17 Bridge Street.

Murray Bridge meatworks up in flames media_camera Thomas Foods International employee Barry Olson outside the smouldering facility. AAP Image/James Elsby 1 of 29 media_camera Local MP for Mawson Leon Bignell addressing the media with Thomas Foods International managing director Darren Thomas on Thursday. AAP Image/Roy Vandervegt 2 of 29 media_camera Trans Australian Livestock Transport operations manager Jason Thornhill at the stockyards in Murray Bridge on Thursday. They are major transporters for Thomas Foods International. Photo: Naomi Jellicoe 3 of 29 media_camera Cattle in Thomas Foods International holding yards outside Murray Bridge. AAP Image/James Elsby 4 of 29 nav_small_close Want to see more?( 25 more photos in collection )Continue to full gallery nav_small_left nav_small_right

Emergency services were called to Thomas Foods International’s meatworks, on the northern outskirts of Murray Bridge, after reports of a “significant” fire at the plant at 7pm on Wednesday night.

The company faces a multimillion-dollar damage bill and major rebuilding operation.

The fire was kept largely to the boning rooms with the main slaughter floor still intact.

Firefighters remain at the scene, where the blaze is contained but still burning in a basement.

Crews will tear down large parts of the structure to access the fire, firefighters say.

It is estimated the fire caused at “tens of millions of dollars” in damage and Thomas Foods say it damaged $30 million in upgrades finished in 2015.

One firefighter was taken to hospital as a precaution but there were nor reports of injuries.

Thomas Foods International Murray Bridge abattoir burns Thomas Foods International Murray Bridge abattoir burns

Emergency Services Minister Chris Picton says efforts to completely extinguish the fire are likely to continue into Thursday night and only then will the full extent of the damage and the cost be known.

“There’s still a fire in the basement of one of the buildings and an excavator is going to be brought in,” he said.

“There are structural risks to various parts of the building and laser technology is being used to monitor movement.”

Metropolitan Fire Service incident commander Robert Crockford said the fire still burning was deep seated and there was still significant smoke.

He said parts of the building would be pulled down to allow crews better access after one of the biggest structural fires in SA for some time.

“The building is totally destroyed. It will be a complete demolition,” he said. “It was quite an intense fire.”

Commander Crockford said the cause was yet to be determined but investigators were already on the scene.

The Government’s response

Thomas Foods is one of SA’s biggest employers and one of the nation’s biggest food producers.

Local MP Adrian Pederick said the fire would be a major blow to the district.

“Fourteen hundred people work here and that is far more than was lost with the Holden closure recently,” he said.

“And for every job here, it would impact on five or six jobs out in the community.”

The State Government has created a dedicated taskforce to coordinate a quick response and support affected workers.

Agriculture Minister Leon Bignell said the State Government was working with the company to help it get “back on track” as quickly as possible.

“We are still dealing with an emergency services response here until the fire is out,” Mr Bignell said.

“We’ve been working overnight and this morning with Thomas Foods — it’s devastating for that company and also for the large workforce here in Murray Bridge, 1400 people work on-site here.

1400 workers hit by Thomas Foods abattoir fire 1400 workers hit by Thomas Foods abattoir fire

“We’re working with the company to see what can be put in place — we know they have another processing plant in Tamworth, some of the work can go there.

“There’s also a chance of taking about 20 per cent of the work to the Lobethal site where Thomas Foods also has a processing plant.

“But we’ll be working as a whole-of-government approach with the company with places like Centrelink to make sure we can stand side-by-side with Thomas Foods and their workforce to get them back on track as quickly as possible, to make sure we reduce the impact on the workers in Murray Bridge.”

A 24-hour hotline — 1800 302 787 — is also being set up for employees and the broader community for questions or concerns. The hotline will be operating from 8am Friday.

The fire

Witnesses told The Advertiser how a “wall of flames” engulfed the facility, 76km east of Adelaide.

More than 100 Metropolitan and Country Fire Service crews responded to the intense blaze — from as far away as Woodville, in the western suburbs — sparking the highest alarm response.

MFS spokesman Roy Thompson said crews did a great job in difficult conditions to bring the blaze under control.

“You imagine a massive factory about 100 metres by 80 metres, about four storeys high, an absolute rabbit warren of conveyor belts where all the meat is processed, the crews were fantastic,” Mr Thompson told ABC radio.

They pumped water from a nearby lagoon in their efforts to bring the blaze under control.

Residents were warned to stay away from the Northern Heights facility and remain indoors as the fire tore through the 8000 sqm structure amid fears the building could collapse or explode.

Workers told how the fire may have started in a lamb boning room from malfunctioning machinery or a welder.

media_camera Staff and onlookers outside the Thomas Foods International's abattoir facility outside Murray Bridge. Picture: Facebook/Steven Pearson

Shocked staff gathered outside as they watched their workplace burn.

A statement from the company’s CEO Darren Thomas late on Wednesday night said:

“Emergency crews are attending a fire which broke out at Thomas Foods International’s Murray Bridge meat processing facilities early this evening.

“Thankfully all our employees on site were safely and promptly evacuated.

“The exact cause of the fire and the full extent of the structural damage is yet to be determined.

“While this is being assessed, the company is making alternative processing arrangements to meet our customer requirements.’’

media_camera Thomas Foods International CEO Darren Thomas in an earlier image at the giant meat processing facility.

Thomas Foods is Australia’s largest family-owned food processing company and one of the state’s most successful businesses with annual revenue of more than $1b.

Processing lamb, beef, mutton and goat, its major clients include Woolworths, Coles, Aldi, McDonalds, IGA and Drake Supermarkets.

Company officials were unable to say on Wednesday night what impact the fire would have on the country’s meat supplies.

Founded in 1988, it employs more than 3000 people in its processing and distribution facilities in Australia and overseas — and is Murray Bridge’s biggest employer, where it employs 1400 people.

The company, which is an Adelaide Football Club major sponsor, exports to more than 80 countries across North America, Europe and the Middle East.

A worker, who did not want to be named, was on the slaughter floor when staff were ordered to get out.

“This is a really big factory for Murray Bridge and it will be a huge shame if we lose it,” he said.

More than 20 fire trucks were called to the facility at 6.58pm as witnesses told how the fire rapidly took hold and spread over three levels of the building.

Despite police warnings, large crowds gathered to watch the fire, which could be seen from more than 50km away. It caused access problems to the facility.

The history behind Thomas Foods International The history behind Thomas Foods International

Mannum Rd resident Bea Kynaston, 19, who lives less than 1km from the plant, witnessed walls start to collapse shortly before 8pm.

“You could see the sides of the wall caving in. We heard a big bang and flames started rushing out through the gap,” she said.

“You could see inside the plant and flames were everywhere. We started hearing (more) big bangs and thought we’d better get out of there.

‘We’re all on standby at the minute in case we have to evacuate if it explodes.”

She added: “I’m just glad all the flames are going to the back of (the plant) toward the wetlands, so it’s not getting near houses. It’s blowing away from houses.”

She described scenes of chaos as the huge crowd hindered emergency services.

“There’s a lot of people standing around in their work uniforms,” she said. “It’s really sad because there’s going to be a lot of people out of work,” she said.

Murray Bridge Mayor Brenton Lewis said the affect on the area was unknown.

“It’s our biggest employer so whatever happens at Thomas Foods will impact on Murray Bridge, so we just have to wait and see,” he said.