EAST LIVERPOOL – After a fire last fall caused considerable damage to its East End building, the W.C. Bunting Company has ceased operations in the city after merging with an East Palestine firm.

The company, located on Globe Street since 1963, suffered severe losses Nov. 7 when fire ripped through its shipping and production areas, leaving more than 30 employees wondering about their futures.

This week, Patrick O’Hara, vice president of sales, confirmed the company has merged operations with CIRM Custom Decorating in East Palestine, saying it was not a decision made lightly.

“We faced very difficult decisions. With (brothers and company officials) Terry approaching 68, Tim, 66 and me, 57, the prospect of starting over was grim,” O’Hara admitted.

He said it would have required nine months to a year to either purchase or construct a new building and get the company back up and running, saying, “Our customers would not wait that long.”

Furthermore, O’Hara said, they considered the plight of their employees, who were all just a few months from exhausting their unemployment benefits, saying, “This was just an untenable situation, so the most logical step for us was to seek a merger of the company with an existing concern so everyone could immediately get back to work and so our customers could get back to normal delivery times. So, that’s the route we chose.”

Within a couple days of the merger with CIRM, orders were able to be shipped, O’Hara said, saying the resources now available through the consortium of companies that are part of the CIRM/Bunting network – five factories, three in Canada, one in New York and one in East Palestine -helped immensely in smoothing out the backlog of work caused by the fire.

“We also now have technologies available to us that will enable us to be competitive in the ever more competitive markets of today,” according to O’Hara.

All Bunting employees were given the opportunity to be rehired, but not as many as he had hoped opted to join the merged company, O’Hara said, with some finding other employment and others retiring.

While admitting he is “extraordinarily melancholy” that the family was not able to remain in East Liverpool or Wellsville, O’Hara said, “The circumstances are what they are, and this seemed to be the best alternative for all concerned. The name goes on.”

Meanwhile, the damaged Globe Street building is still standing, but O’Hara said asbestos has been removed and the Environmental Protection Agency has issued a certificate to that effect, clearing the way for demolition once the insurance carrier completes its claim, which he anticipates within a couple weeks.

The warehouse portion of the brick building will not be demolished, having not sustained any damage in the fire, according to O’Hara.