The building and everything inside it were destroyed in the blaze, affecting the distribution of medical supplies across Northern California.
Officials said plans are in place to address both the supply disruptions and the employment fallout. On Friday morning, several semi trucks that were undamaged by the flames or smoke left the Medline facility carrying medical supplies, marking the first movement in or out of the site since the fire began.
Tracy Mayor Dan Arriola said the fire has created multiple challenges for the city.
"We're really proud of efforts of our law enforcement, fire and city staff have done to address the public safety impacts," Arriola said. "We are concerned about the public health impacts and we are working with California Air Resource Board to address those concerns as well. At this point, we're really concerned about the employees."
LIVE UPDATES: Officials call Tracy warehouse fire 1 of largest in US; could burn for days
The Tracy facility serves as a local distribution center, primarily supporting Northern California, including Sutter Health in the Bay Area. A Sutter Health spokesperson said the system is monitoring the situation and has contingency plans in place.
In a statement, the spokesperson said, "like other health systems... we are closely monitoring the situation," and added, "At this time, we do not anticipate broad impacts."
While the outlook for medical supply distribution appears stable for now, the situation remains uncertain for workers displaced by the fire.
Antonio Talavera, an employee at the facility, said he has received limited information about next steps Thursday night when we spoke with him.
"My supervisor brought up something about the workers being distributed among nearby distributor centers," Talavera said. "But, other than that, we all kind of just in the dark right now."
Some employees may be reassigned to other facilities, while staffing agencies are working to help others find new jobs.
Employnet, a staffing and recruiting company in nearby Manteca, is connecting displaced workers with similar opportunities.
"The customer I've worked with, they do love folks that come from that industry, because their warehouse operations are very similar when it comes to their racking system -- you know, how they operate," said Mary Vasquez, a branch manager at Employnet. "So, this could definitely just be an easy transition for folks."
Employnet is assisting affected workers and can be reached at 209-645-6580 or manteca@employenet.com. City and county officials are also offering resources for impacted employees at sjcworknet.org.