NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) — Invitrogen said today that the wildfires that have been ravaging southern California have forced it to shutter its facility in Carlsbad for the majority of its employees, but that it is still distributing products from there.
"Our priority continues to be the safety and well-being of our employees and their families, many of whom live in areas in San Diego County that have been evacuated," CEO Greg Lucier said in a statement.
"From a business perspective, we have sound business continuity plans in place and are attempting to maintain business operations as close to normal as possible,” Lucier said. “We expect the majority of our domestic and international orders to be filled through the efforts of personnel from various global distribution sites.”
The fires have damaged land and property throughout the region and have spurred the State government to call for mandatory mass evacuations in San Diego and Carlsbad, which is located just up the coast.
According to news reports, more than a dozen fires blazed from north of Los Angeles to the Mexican border, torching 1,500 houses and other buildings and forcing more than 500,000 people to evacuate their homes, including an undisclosed number of Invitrogen employees.
San Diego County officials said approximately 513,000 people in the district had received mandatory evacuation orders and an additional 12,000 had been advised to leave their homes.