As we begin our recovery from the catastrophic fire that consumed our Middletown store on Memorial Day, we feel deep appreciation for the concern and support from our community.

The reality of the loss of our Middletown store and especially the impact this loss has on our Middletown store employees is heartbreaking.

We are grateful to all the first responders who worked so hard to try and save our business. Regretfully, two of them suffered injuries as a result of their actions. We sincerely wish them a speedy recovery and heartfelt gratitude.

The day after the fire, we began putting all our resources to work to attend to the needs of our affected employees.

Our next order of business is to begin the planning efforts to rebuild the Middletown store as soon as possible. We look forward to the day when we can once again serve the community in our Middletown store.

We are fortunate that our Cobb and Hidden Valley stores remain open.The show of support at these stores has been incredible.

In the immediate future, we are making every effort to open a smaller scale hardware store in our existing lumber yard building. It is our hope to have this open for business within the next two months.

We are looking forward to a bright future with a new Hardester's store to serve our wonderful community.

Duane Harper is general manager for Hardester's Markets and Hardware based in Middletown, Calif.