Miller Electric helps W.W. Gay Rebound from Devastating Blaze
Early on the morning of August 31st, the corporate headquarters of longtime Miller Electric friends and industry partner, W.W. Gay, was the site of a blazing fire that caused considerable damage to the building. The Jacksonville Fire Department was called at approximately 1:00 a.m., and they immediately dispatched more than 60 firefighters to the iconic building on Stockton Street. These brave public servants battled the blaze for more than 60 hours before they overcame and extinguished the fire. Fortunately, the fabrication shop and service department buildings were spared and remain fully functional. We will all miss the iconic blue building, especially those whose daily commute to work includes driving into town on I-10. The W.W. Gay blog described the emotional blow this tragedy dealt:
Photo courtesy of W.W. Gay
“The iconic blue building was our home base; many grew up here in its crooked hallways, sloping floors, and low ceilings. We will miss it. …Decades of memories were destroyed in the blaze. Mr. Gay’s office was home to some of our company’s most cherished memorabilia…pictures and awards that commemorated our 58 years in the Jacksonville community. Those mementos may be lost, but the memories are not. And although the building is a total loss, we were able to salvage some items from areas that were less affected by the fire.”
As a longtime friend and partner of W.W. Gay, crews from Miller Electric mobilized immediately to help them get their business back up and running. We helped execute a safe-off to ensure that JEA could get power back to the building’s undamaged portions and completed the necessary cabling and power requirements to move their server room to a new location. Our teams also helped install new rooftop air conditioning units and built out temporary office spaces to compensate for those lost in the fire. Remarkably, we completed all of this work in only one week.
W.W. Gay graciously expressed their gratitude to Jacksonville Fire & Rescue and Miller Electric Company by installing a rooftop sign for all to see.
Times like these allow us to prove to our friends in the industry that we will stand by them in the worst of circumstances. It lets us apply tough action to words that are easy to speak. It shows us that our resilience comes from the integrity of the family-like relationships that we enjoy. Crises show us what we are made of; They can make us stronger or tear us down. With a little help from their friends, it looks like W.W. Gay will emerge from this setback stronger than ever.