Firefighters battle a fire at Green Bay Converting on Larsen Road during Blizzard Elsa, March 16, 2026. (Courtesy: Green Bay Metro Fire Department)
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — The leader of a Green Bay business that was the site of a devastating fire this week spoke for the first time Wednesday.
It was shortly before 8 a.m. Monday when the blaze first broke out at Green Bay Converting, located at 2200 Larsen Road on the city’s west side. High winds and heavy snow hampered firefighting efforts at the 320,000-square-foot warehouse, which has continued to burn for days. Two firefighters suffered minor injuries.
Green Bay Converting CEO Jonathan Dyer addressed the blaze during a news conference Wednesday, alongside officials from the Green Bay Metro Fire Department and Green Bay Mayor Eric Genrich.
“We are grateful for the over 100 firefighters, first responders, safety personnel, local agencies and agencies from surrounding counties who have worked through extremely difficult conditions to get control of this fire over the last few days,” Dyer said. “It truly is a great example of public servants and communities working together. We sincerely thank all of you for your efforts, and we thank God that injuries have been kept to a minimum.”
This is a major event for our company and it is devastating. It obviously brings a lot of uncertainty. Our primary focus right now is finalizing a recovery plan that pulls our employees together and gives a path forward for their families. We’re also ensuring that we support our customers with clear communication and how we continue to support them.
Green Bay, at the end of the day, is the heartbeat of our company, and it will always be and we will come back. Those efforts to develop a plan and resources started within hours of the fire and we are actively working on finalizing it. So with that, we’re going to go off and get back to work so we can communicate with our employees to give them that path forward and to press on.
A dedicated email line has been set up for information sharing. Contact larseninfo@gbconvert.com if you have any questions.
The fire at Green Bay Converting is the largest the city has seen in almost 30 years.
Strong winds not only fueled the fire, but also sent smoke and debris miles away, resulting in a shelter-in-place being issued within a 3/4 mile radius. The roof of the building that houses paper products collapsed in multiple places.
The cause of the fire has not yet been determined.
“The Fire Marshal’s Office of the Green Bay Metro Fire Department has started an investigation to determine the cause of the fire. Due to prolonged firefighting efforts, the fire marshals were unable to enter the building and begin their investigation early on,” said GBMFD Interim Co-Chief Ray Fuiten. “The investigation is expected to take several days to weeks to complete because of the extensive size of the building and the damage caused by the water and fire. The State of Wisconsin Fire Marshal’s Office is also assisting our agency.”
Officials can’t yet put an estimate on the total amount of damage.
As of Wednesday afternoon, firefighters are still working to extinguish hot spots and salvage items within the structure. Fuiten said he anticipates crews will stay on scene for at least the next 48 hours, if not longer, to ensure the fire doesn’t reignite.
No one was in the warehouse building at the time of the fire. Crews were dispatched through the fire alarm system.
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