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Boy how things can change in just one day. At approximately 1220 in the afternoon of 7 June 2000 a fire broke out in a building at Olympic Arms, Inc that houses the sales, inventory, permanent records, final assembly and shipping offices. The fire spread rapidly in the aged wood framed building, and quickly consumed it entirely. City of Lacey Fire Captain Chris von Neudegg stated that, "It (the fire) was doubling in size every two minutes". The fire was prevented from spreading to a neighboring home, as well as a nearby additional storage building owned by Olympic. Stating uncatagorically that Olympic Arms will continue its operations, "I've been through it all. If I had been a quitter, I'd have quit 40 or 50 years ago.", says Robert Schuetz, President and CEO of Olympic Arms. According to BATF fire investigators, the blaze initiated at a motor of an exhaust fan. The electrical motor heated up to the point where it ignited some dry wood framework near by. This in turn melted through a compressed air supply hose that caused the flames to be fed by compressed air, spreading the fire throughout the small enclosed room in just minutes. By the time the fire was discovered, it was too late. Quick acting employees doused the flames in the smoke filled room with fire extinguishers, but to no avail. Unfortunately, much of the computer system was destroyed limiting my ability to supply photos of the fire and building that was lost. |
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To help us deal with the situation we are faced with regarding the regrouping of our offices, we are requesting your patience and understanding. As always, your patronage is very much appreciated, but until we get our sales offices back on their feet, we will all be a bit behind the power curve. Thanks again for your understanding in this matter.
Thomas A. Spithaler |
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The fire may have damaged the buildings, but Olympic Arms is still in operation. Let the record show that we will be dealing with a great deal of hardship and logistical problems re-establishing our sales and shipping operations in a different/temporary building, but it is not insurmountable. The manufacturing section of the company was completely unaffected by the fire and is still hard at work pumping out barrels, receivers and other parts. Obviously, we will be behind proposed delivery schedules, but we are far from out of business. "Our insurance coverage is sufficient. We are completely covered for inventory as well as the structure. We will rebuild," says Robert C. Schuetz, President and CEO of Olympic Arms. "This is just a set back, but we have plenty of business, we aren't going anywhere." Shipping will be slow for a few weeks based on the needed rebuilding of our inventory that was lost in the fire. The sales and shipping offices have been moved to a different building within the Olympic compound and put back into operations.
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If you are a dealer on file with Olympic Arms, guess what? You are no longer on file with Olympic Arms. As all of our computer records and hard copies of your FFL's are gone, burnt to a crisp. We will need new, hand signed in ink copies of your FFL's ASAP. If you ever were, are ever wanted to be an Olympic Arms customer, now is the time to send in the FFL. When you send in your FFL's, please make an annotation on the outside of the envelope stating, "FFL Enclosed". This way we can transfer those envelopes directly to the data processing staff. Please send the FFL's right away.
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We will not be having a fire sale. I know this sounds funny in the face of what we have experienced, but the calls and questions are already screaming in. The building and all of its contents have been declared a complete loss. Once this was announced, ownership of everything in the building transfered to that of the insurance company. At this point we are no longer even permitted to enter the "ruins" to try and salvage. Everything that was in there is a complete loss. No parts will be salvaged. Matter of fact, an 8 foot high barbed wire-capped fence has been erected around the remnants of the building itself. What this means is that you never have to worry about getting a sub-par part that was salvaged from the remains of the burnt out building. Everything that ships from Olympic will be a new production, 100% warranted part.
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Karen Bell, the wife of Bruce Bell the Olympic Arms Comptroller and in-house accountant passed away this week after a long and hard fought struggle with cancer. Karen will be sorely missed by friends and family. Our condolances, and heart felt prayers and best wishes go out to the entire Bell Family.
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