ABI Engineering Named Business of the Year

By Camille DeVaul · Wed Dec 10 2025

ABI Engineering has been named one of the Businesses of the Year by the Paso Robles and Templeton Chamber of Commerce for its response and help following the devastating Templeton Feed & Grain fire.

For ABI Engineering owner Andy Brown, the recognition feels unexpected, but deeply appreciated.

"It was a nice thought, but I'm kind of a pretty modest person, so that wasn't necessary, but I appreciate it," Andy shared.

Growing up in North County, Andy felt compelled to help the Jermins anyway he could after their granary, the Templeton Feed and Grain, was set on fire in July.

"I was born and raised here," Andy explained. "I grew up here, took livestock to the fairs, bought feed from the Jermins. Rick's a few years older than I am, but we went to school with Rick, his brother and my brother all graduated in the same class of '88 from Atascadero. Pretty deep community ties over the years ... when somebody calls in time of need or something like that, you just show up, it's not what they can do for you, it's what you can do for them."

When the fire broke out, Andy’s first reaction was disbelief, but the aftermath hit even harder.

"Until you were actually down there, you probably didn't know the magnitude of what the devastation was when it became a total loss," Andy said.

Firefighters needed assistance taking down what remained of the granary. Still igniting on and off into flames, the building was at risk of causing harm, but taking it down was a process of constant trial and error.

"You're looking up at it, and it's something that, in that magnitude, I'd never been asked to do before," Andy explained.

To safely bring the silos down, Andy collaborated with longtime friend and marine contractor Paul Gillen of Associated Pacific Constructors. Together, they developed a cable system that could collapse the silos in a controlled direction. With help from the City of Paso Robles, who flew a drone to thread a line through the structure, the team executed their plan.

"We found that out real quick, that was built way tougher than anybody ever thought," said Andy.

After a few tries, it finally worked.

"I felt pretty confident that it was going to work," Andy said. "It's just a matter of how long it was going to take us."

Andy's team then turned their attention to the second structure, which required even greater precision due to its proximity to other buildings. He notes, though, that it took many hands to make this job possible.

"My guys gave up a lot of time on that and everybody rallied together and we worked on until dusk till ... it was a huge community involvement," Andy shared.

He thanked other local businesses for lending a hand like Eagle Energy, Quinn Rental and Dave Spurr, and the community for bring food to the crews daily. Chicago Grade Landfill, also honored as Business of the Year, played a critical role by accepting all debris at no cost.

Andy founded Andrew Brown (ABI) General Engineering Inc. in 2002 after working for Granite Construction. He started with nothing but a backhoe and a desk in the corner of his house. Today, the company operates more than 40 pieces of equipment from a two-acre facility.

"I like to think of it [the company] as a family, instead of a bunch of employees," he said.

ATASCADERO NEWS MAGAZINE

Copies of Atascadero News Magazine are directly delivered to 11,500 readers in zip codes 93422, 93432, and 93453 and 1,500 dropped with support from advertisers and subscribers. Together, we are Making Communities Better Through Print.™

To subscribe or advertise, click here.