The Fire

In 1987, a faulty light ballast caused a devastating fire which destroyed our warehouse and severely damaged our office building. With the help of our dedicated employees, volunteers in the community, and our friends in the fly fishing community, we were able to quickly rebuild.

Here are some photos of our facilities following the fire:

fire pictureThe dye room. Most everything was destroyed.

Side Dock leading to the dye roomThis is the opposite side of the dye room.

inside of dye roomThis is the view looking across the inside of the dye room.

BuildingAlthough this section of our offices was destroyed, the remaining area suffered only smoke and water damage.

Dye RoomThe shelves holding these barrels disintegrated under extreme heat.

RoofThis is the roof of the warehouse.

Side of Wapsi after the fireThe walls experienced a similar fate.

Drying FeathersWe were able to salvage many of our capes and saddles. Smoke damaged material had to be washed and dried several times.

MachineAlthough rebuilding seemed like an overwhelming task, we were very optimistic when we discovered that several key pieces of machinery survived the fire with only light damage.