Taylor Farms reopening Salinas processing plant one year after devastating fire.

One year after a fire destroyed its food processing plant on Abbott Street in Salinas, local agriculture giant Taylor Farms is set to reopen the facility by the end of this month.

Last April, the facility was the site of a devastating fire that burned down the 225,000-square-foot building at 1207 Abbott St., sparking a widespread response from county fire crews and sending up plumes of smoke that prompted evacuations and shelter-in-place orders nearby.

Officials subsequently determined that the blaze was likely caused by maintenance work on site, including welding that may have sparked the flames. No injuries were reported as a result of the incident.

Taylor Farms has spent the past year rebuilding the Abbott Street facility, and on Thursday, April 6, it announced that the location is “scheduled to be in full operation” by the end of April.

“We are thrilled to be back in this facility and once again serve our customers from our flagship location,” chairman and CEO Bruce Taylor said in a statement.

Taylor Farms noted in a press release that the Abbott Street plant is “particularly meaningful,” as “it is where the business began” after Bruce Taylor and his partners founded the Salinas-based company in 1995.

The firm has since expanded to 22 production facilities and roughly 24,000 employees across North America in becoming one of the world’s largest vegetable processors.