REXBURG— The Eastern Idaho community is coming together to help Reed’s Dairy after a fire destroyed a production building on Thursday, Jan. 18, resulting in a complete loss of the building and the production materials inside. The Idaho Falls Fire Department responded to the scene at 2:45 p.m. All employees had evacuated safely.
Alan Reed, the president and co-owner of Reed’s Dairy told BYU-Idaho Radio that this kind of disaster has always been his greatest fear.
“I was just down the road running air and about a quarter of a mile and my son called and said the building was on fire,” Reed said. “And my first thought was, ‘That's always been my greatest fear is fire in that building.’ Turned around and headed back and saw the great amount of smoke and it just really made me sick.”
The production building was built by Reed’s great grandfather and holds significant emotional value to the family.
“We spent, as kids, a lot of time in there and a lot of fun memories, a lot of memories working and scraping out the milk barn,” Reed said.
Although the fire has stopped production in Idaho, multiple businesses from Washington and Utah have taken on the task of helping Reed’s Dairy stay afloat as they navigate the logistics of a new production building and appliances.
“The plant over in Washington, they agreed to bottle milk for us. There's a company down in Salt Lake that we're working with. We're trying to help them so they can make the mix for us. And then Carrie Anne's has been so kind to let us use their manufacturing room to make ice cream in,” Reed said. “On the cheese side Gosner's was really good. They called and said, ‘Hey, what can we do to help you?’ So, we talked about our cheese and what we needed there, and they were so kind to help.”
Not only has Reed’s Dairy received out-of-state help, but the community in Idaho Falls took to the streets last Saturday to support the local business with what many called the “MOO-vement.” The event was capped off with a special gift to Reed’s Dairy from the Greater Idaho Falls Chamber of Commerce, which gave Reed’s Dairy a complimentary free membership to the chamber for the year.
“Well, I tell you, we live in a really great area,” Reed said. “I mean, the Intermountain West, you know, you look at how people are wanting to help and willing to sacrifice and do things for others. We just live in a great area and the people here are the finest that there is,” Reed said.