Bridgestone/Firestone Decatur plant winds down production

Dec. 10, 2001

The last tire will roll out of Bridgestone/Firestone North American Tire (BFNT) LLC's Decatur, Ill., manufacturing plant this Friday.

Nearly 570 workers at the plant will lose their jobs when it permanently closes the next day.

"We've been working to relocate them within the system," says a BFNT spokesperson.

So far, 54 salaried employees have accepted relocations to other Bridgestone/Firestone facilities; 24 hourly workers will transfer to the tiremaker's Des Moines, Iowa, plant.

Decatur employees who aren't successfully relocated will receive severence packages.

BFNT representatives will meet with Decatur, Ill., city officials to determine what will happen to the building, which originally opened as a tank manufacturing facility in the 1940s.

Bridgestone/Firestone officials first announced the Decatur plant's closing earlier this year.