EDMONTON, Alta. — As the people at Rosenau Transport prepared for their Christmas party last month a fire, likely touched off by a faulty power bar, destroyed the south-side company’s headquarters.

Claiming almost everything in its path, the fire torched the fleet’s records and its main computer, a key tool in co-ordinating the operation of 180 trucks and a dozen branch offices.

Over the next two days the computer specialists at Banks Hill Systems mounted a massive effort. In the end, the company measured its shutdown time due to the fire in terms of hours instead of days.

“They worked through the weekend and on Monday our system was up again,” Pat Young, controller of the family-owned company started in 1957 with one pickup truck, tells local media. “It just shows the value of teamwork and your suppliers.”

The 5805 98th St. fire didn’t spread beyond Edmontons Rosenau’s dispatch or loading dock facilities.

“The biggest thing for us was having communications to keep our trucks going,” Young says. The company’s 300 employees depended on it and nobody was out of work.