'What do we do now?' Bay de Verde workers head home to Harbour Breton, Englee

The impact of the fire at the Bay de Verde fishplantis widespread but workers are the ones hit with the initial blow.

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Wanda Langdon and AloysiusAugot, from Harbour Breton arrived in the community Sunday ready to go to work processing crab but are now faced with the grim reality ofgoing home empty handed.

"It's sad. It's more than sadwe've made so many friends here and it was like,Quinlanswas family," saidLangdon.

"I don't know. What do we do now?We're going home there's a lot of people that we're not going to see again and we hope for the best."

"In our community there's no work so we had to go elsewhere for it ... that's why we came here," Augot told CBC.

"My options now is to go back home, maybe I'll retire now ... but I wouldliketo keep working here if the plant was still working."

The Quinlan Brothers plantwas completely destroyedafter a fire started early Monday morning.

At peak season, the plant had employed 700 workers, some comingfrom Thailand, their third year commuting to Newfoundland for work in the fish processing sector.

It's not quite as far as Thailand, but Jeff Fillier and his wife Deanna made the 1,000 km trek from Englee on Newfoundland's northernpeninsula.

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They came to Bay de Verde with lots of hope and thankful to have a job. Now withemotions running high, coming to grips with the loss, they don'tknowwhere to turn.

"I don't know how to put it in words what's going on, people don't know where to steer to anymore because there's no jobs in their communities," said Deanna.

"I'm still good for a little while on EI but that's onlygonnalast so long,and then we're in the same boat aseveryoneelse here," said Jeff.

"Everybody got bills to pay and some people got no money coming in right now,government'sgot to step in and do something."

Economic blow

The loss of the fish plant willalsohave an immediate impact on the regional economy.

The plant workers were key customers for many businesses in the area, including the Gasland convenience store in nearby Old Perlican, which is also owned by Quinlans.

"You don't have those people coming into the community. You don't have workers driving back and forth here everyday, so all we're depending on is the people that live in the community," said general manager,Michelle Squires.

"Once the plants start, this place is a totally different place it booms, you're talking like four times the sales on everything."

While the plant owners plan to rebuild, the future is still very much up in the air, putting residents and workers on edge.

Squires said that while she had no doubt Quinlans would rebuild, sayingthey're very dedicated to the industry and employment in the area, it's going to be a rough road. She's trying to stayoptimistic.

"It's gonna be rough, definitely gonnabe roughuntil everything gets straightened out," she said.

"There's talkof people getting sent to different plants to go to work and there's [talk] of crab getting sent, so I feel a little bit better today."

Riding out the storm

The provincial government has come forward to offer some assistance to the town and people affectedbut picking up the pieces is going to take time.

"I thinkprobablyrealisticallythe onlythingwe'regonnasee is an extension on the EI there's only so many jobs out there,"saidSquires.

"If we can get as many people employedin different areas that still live in this area, obviously they're going to come back here with their money and hopefully the transition's not going to be as bad."

The plant has become somewhat ofan anchor for the area andpeople like Deanna Fillierhopeto find work in Bay de Verde again.

"There's nothing back home ... so hopefully they would get a new plant and upand running again for us to come back and work again."