Bermite Lays Off 25, Warns of Further Cuts in Wake of Blast

About 25 Bermite employees have been laid off and a company official said more could be idled because of the explosion July 18 that destroyed a key production building at the defense contractor’s 1,100-acre complex in Saugus.

Spokesmen for Bermite and the Department of Defense said Tuesday that they still have not determined the cause of the blast that rocked the unoccupied building, where large batches of a compound used to make decoy flares were mixed by remote control. They also said it is uncertain how the accident will affect delivery of flares.

Bermite has a $6.4-million contract with the Army to supply 1.2 million flares, which are shot from fighter planes to deflect heat-seeking missiles by generating more heat than the jet engine. Joyce Fencl, press officer for the U.S. Defense Contract Administration Services, said Bermite has shipped slightly more than 210,000 of the flares, and is under contract to deliver the rest by February.

Most of the company’s 220 workers have been involved in flare production, and a company official said the firm soon will run out of the mixture that it presses into flares.

Rodney Muse, vice president for human relations at Bermite, said Tuesday it is uncertain if the company will reconstruct the blend building or relocate the operation to another structure at the Bermite complex at 22116 Soledad Canyon Road.

The explosion, which caused an estimated $500,000 damage but no injuries, was the third major accident connected with the flare contract at Bermite this year. Two workers are recovering from second- and third-degree burns they suffered in May and June when flare material ignited as they handled it. There were no injuries reported in a March explosion that apparently was unrelated to the flare work.

Bermite is a division of Los Angeles-based Whittaker Corp.