Why did employees at Kentucky factory keep making candles on night of devastating tornado?

[riversedge]

Why did employees at Kentucky factory keep making candles on night of devastating tornado?

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/why-did-employees-at-kentucky-factory-keep-making-candles-on-night-of-devastating-tornado/ar-AARLKma?cvid=43284e98e5464264a80f9bda526fbd1a&ocid=winp1taskbar



Associated Press - 34m ago




MAYFIELD, Ky. (AP) ..........................



But why its workers kept making candles Friday night as a tornado bore down on the region remains unclear as rescuers continue scouring the factory wreckage for signs of life.............................


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“It appears most were sheltering in the place they were told to shelter,” Gov. Andy Beshear said. “I hope that area was as safe as it could be, but this thing got hit directly by the strongest tornado we could have possibly imagined.”

A company spokesperson said Sunday that eight of the 110 workers on the overnight shift Friday are confirmed dead and another eight are missing. More than 90 have now been accounted for, making the death toll lower than some had feared hours earlier.

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“Many of the employees were gathered in the tornado shelter and after the storm was over they left the plant and went to their homes,” said Bob Ferguson, the company spokesperson. “With the power out and no landline they were hard to reach initially.”

Workers said they had been told to huddle in a central hallway area, the strongest part of the building, as the storm approached. Some had already left earlier in the night following a warning siren, they said.
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NWS says tornado was on ground for 250 miles, across 4 states

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Most American candle-makers used to complete their holiday orders by early November, but labor shortages and other economic trends tied to the COVID-19 pandemic have extended crunch time well into December, said Kathy LaVanier, CEO of Ohio-based Renegade Candle Company and a board member at the National Candle Association.

LaVanier said candle-makers around the U.S. are horrified by what happened in Kentucky and are trying to find ways to help. Unlike many manufactured products, most candles sold in the U.S. are American-made, in part thanks to hefty and longstanding tariffs on Chinese-made candles..........................................







https://img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/AARLZ2i.img?w=534&h=361&m=6

Emergency workers search what is left of the Mayfield Consumer Products Candle Factory after it was destroyed by a tornado in Mayfield, Kentucky, on December 11, 2021. – Tornadoes ripped through five US states overnight, leaving more than 70 people dead Saturday in Kentucky and causing multiple fatalities at an Amazon warehouse in Illinois that suffered “catastrophic damage” with around 100 people trapped inside. The western Kentucky town of Mayfield was “ground zero” of the storm — a scene of “massive devastation,” one official said. (Photo by John Amis / AFP) (Photo by JOHN AMIS/AFP via Getty Images)

[Blue_playwright]

1. A worker I heard interviewed...

…Said many employees lived up to an hour away. Staying put during a tornado watch in a place with shelter seems smart.

[Wingus Dingus]

2. Vast majority of them survived--that's good news.

I keep seeing insinuations that they shouldn't have been at work that night, attempts to fault the company for the deaths. But nothing and nobody shuts down for tornadoes unless they're on the ground, in your county, headed your way. Nothing unusual happened here, they took shelter at their workplace and the steel building couldn't take the direct hit.

[doc03]

3. I worked in a steel mill for 40 years, they never shut

down for anything as long as we had orders to fill. Floods, blizzards, tornado warnings, nothing. 24/7 You are just
a number.

[MichMan]

4. That building was likely much safer than having people drive home and shelter