The owner of a Hartland manufacturing company destroyed by fire on the weekend is hoping the government will help get the plant back into production.

John Craig, owner of Craig Manufacturing, had to lay off his 90 employees when fire destroyed the warehouse and all the equipment inside.

Craig Manufacturing after the weekend fire

Faulty wiring was considered the probable cause.

• FROM MAY 9, 2005: Fire forces evacuation in Hartland

The workers will receive vacation pay for the next two weeks. After that, the company is hoping the government will agree to reduce the waiting period for them to collect employment insurance.

Craig says he's grateful that his workers and his customers are remaining loyal to the company.

"We've had customers with things on order with us and we've told them it's going to be a while … and they said 'well just leave it on order and whenever you can get to it, you can ship it.'"

Craig says that kind of support has helped the company cope with the weekend disaster.

However, while all the production equipment was destroyed, not all was lost. Craig said the company was able to save important drawings and plans that had been stored on an office computer.

Craig has scheduled meetings with the area's MP and MLAs on Thursday night.

He says they're going to talk about whether any government programs are available to rebuild the factory from the ground up.

Craig Manufacturing was the third biggest employer in Hartland.