FISHKILL, N.Y. -- A six-alarm fire tore through the roof of Building 100 at the Gap Distribution Center in Fishkill. It's the northeast online distribution center for the Gap, Banana Republic and Old Navy.
Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro said all employees who were on site have been accounted for.
"This Gap facility employs approximately 600 people," Molinaro said. "Last night, there would have been nearly 200 employees in Building 100, with 300 employees on the entire campus."
The county's economic development team will help those workers, and Assistant Dutchess County Executive Rob Hicks is leading the effort.
"The entire campus is shut down," Hicks said. "The 600 who would normally be in that building will probably not be working today, tomorrow or the day after there, but they are getting paid right now through Gap."
During peak times of year, like the upcoming holiday season, Gap has as many as 1,800 people working at the facility.
"It's critical for Gap Northeast and for the region that Gap continues to be able to function, and that they continue to employ these individuals," Molinaro added.
"The whole goal here is to get Gap up and running again, because this is a very important facility, and it's a very important time of year, and also to get those people working," Hicks said.
Hicks said his team is working with the company and the Empire State Development Corporation to find a temporary location to resume business.
"We want to keep them in Dutchess first and foremost; if that building or three-quarters of that building is not habitable, then we want to find other space in Dutchess County," Hicks said. "We've identified other space that they can go into immediately and do pop-up operations."
State police and ATF officials are investigating the cause of the fire. Molinaro said that investigation could take seven to 10 days, and during that time, Gap officials will determine if they can open other buildings that were not affected by the fire.