diff --git a/libraries/chain/controller.cpp b/libraries/chain/controller.cpp
index df6ba06b92..76626ae4a1 100644
--- a/libraries/chain/controller.cpp
+++ b/libraries/chain/controller.cpp
@@ -401,7 +401,7 @@ struct controller_impl {
          EOS_ASSERT( root_id == blog.head_id(), fork_database_exception, "fork database root does not match block log head" );
       } else {
          EOS_ASSERT( fork_db.root()->block_num == lib_num, fork_database_exception,
-                     "empty block log expects the first appended block to build off a block that is not the fork database root" );
+                     "empty block log expects the first appended block to build off a block that is not the fork database root. root block number: ${block_num}, lib: ${lib_num}", ("block_num", fork_db.root()->block_num) ("lib_num", lib_num) );
       }
 
       auto fork_head = (read_mode == db_read_mode::IRREVERSIBLE) ? fork_db.pending_head() : fork_db.head();
diff --git a/plugins/producer_plugin/producer_plugin.cpp b/plugins/producer_plugin/producer_plugin.cpp
index 2889820374..076e1d1251 100644
--- a/plugins/producer_plugin/producer_plugin.cpp
+++ b/plugins/producer_plugin/producer_plugin.cpp
@@ -378,6 +378,9 @@ class producer_plugin_impl : public std::enable_shared_from_this<producer_plugin
             chain_plugin::handle_bad_alloc();
          } catch ( boost::interprocess::bad_alloc& ) {
             chain_plugin::handle_db_exhaustion();
+         } catch ( const fork_database_exception& e ) {
+            elog("Cannot recover from ${e}. Shutting down.", ("e", e.to_detail_string()));
+            appbase::app().quit();
          } catch( const fc::exception& e ) {
             handle_error(e);
          } catch (const std::exception& e) {