Modern Furniture Manufacturers Survives Arson Fire

Modern Furniture Manufacturer’s Inc. is a wholesale manufacturing business that builds furniture, anything from complete bedroom sets to dining room and living room furniture sold to dealers across the country. The family owned and operated business, located in Arlington, Washington, started in 1943 experienced a devastating fire, (which according to authorities was caused by arson) that destroyed the physical plant along with most of its contents on October 30th, 2005. Some of the only salvageable remains from the ashy wreckage include the contents of the two FireKing 4-drawer UL-rated fireproof and water resistant filing cabinets that were kept in the main office area.

The actual structure that burnt to the ground on that day was a 54,000 square foot warehouse which contained a mill, spare parts storage, assembly area, finishing, shipping and an office. Inside the factory the fire was greatly strengthened due to the large amount of material required to build furniture that was kept inside (i.e. wood, highly flammable paints and glues). Fire investigators have determined that the blaze caused nearly $3.5 million in damages. There were over 100 firefighters dispatched to the scene, where nobody was hurt, but the lives of the owners and employees were drastically changed by the loss of the building, and will remain so at least until business gets back to normal. The main office was shortly moved off-site and was semi-operational about three days later. The manufacturing is still not operational and won’t be for quite some time.

The most important enabling factor in that effort to return to normal business operations are the specific vital business documents that were stored in the UL-rated fireproof FireKing file cabinet and saved from the flames - cash, personnel files, payroll checks, tax information, blank checks, copies of titles, keys, and financial statements - all documents that helped Modern Furniture regain a small amount of regrouping momentum almost immediately after the fire.

Ryan Blackwell, a senior executive at Modern Furniture Manufacturer’s Inc., describes how impressed he and the rest of the company was with the function of the FireKing filing cabinet.

"We are still in the process of dealing with our insurance agency to get additional help to rebuild, but it is clear that having the FireKing file helped us retain cash and other valuable information that would have otherwise taken a considerable amount of time to collect. We were very impressed with how well the cabinets held up and we wish that we had more of them at the time of the fire. Without a doubt, the FireKing file surpassed its 'warranty’ standards."

The benefits of proactive installation of FireKing fireproof filing cabinets were clearly noticed in this case. The furniture industry can gain crucial knowledge and respect from Modern Furniture Manufacturer’s Inc. experience and learn just how important it is to protect vital business records from fire (or any other category of disaster). If a disaster recovery plan is not in place for your business, take the time to create a very detailed strategy that incorporates a properly placed, UL-rated fireproof and water resistant filing cabinet or safe.