As we know, GIA closed for a bit during the wildfires and just re-opened yesterday. Apparently, the Carlsbad lab missed a day or so but will be open over the weekend to make up for lost time. We spoke with GIA public affairs manager Laura Simonton – who was briefly evacuated from her home — about the human toll all this has taken.
She notes that while GIA was never in any danger, many of its employees were ….
We know of sadly one employee who lost a home and we understand there might be a couple of others and we are looking into it.
[GIA closed] on Monday for a couple of reasons. At three o’clock it wasn’t looking good. There was an ugly cloud and we had a lot of folks that needed to get home. We stayed closed Tuesday as everyone was under an evacuation order.
We were really proud of how the employees handled the situation. Everyone was calm, and they took each other in.
Close to 100% of our employees are here and back to work. All of our people are safe and unhurt and that’s the important thing, though obviously the loss of a house is a devastating thing. It is still smoky here. You can still smell it in the air, but we are all trying to get back to normal, however you define that.
Our thoughts are with the people there.
Follow JCK on Instagram: @jckmagazine
Follow JCK on Twitter: @jckmagazine
Follow JCK on Facebook: @jckmagazine
