WRV fire, The straight talk!

Danny Gayhart · 10-13-2005, 05:21 PM

There have been several posts speculating on the causes and damage resulting from the fire Tuesday night at Western Recreational Vehicle's Alpine Coach plant. I have been in contact with WRV management and I would like to share an e-mail I received.

Danny

Good Morning Guys,

Just wanted to let you know "officially" what is going on. There was a fire at the Alpine Coach plant last (Tuesday) night. Contrary to a local TV news report (and repeated on the Internet) the cause of the fire has not yet been determined. Thankfully no one was hurt and the building's fire suppression system performed as designed and confined the damage to a small area. Unfortunately there was quite a bit of smoke damage and we're estimating it will take approximately two weeks to get the plant back on-line. Ron told me that NOTHING with even a tinge of smoke smell will touch an Alpine Coach and that we are literally discarding dumpster loads of raw materials that look fine but may have been exposed to the smoke. In fact Ron himself is overseeing the clean-up and working with fire investigators to determine the cause. I'll be sure to update you as more information becomes available.

Regards,

Dave Woodall
WRV Marketing
Yakima WA USA

Danny Gayhart · 10-13-2005, 05:21 PM

There have been several posts speculating on the causes and damage resulting from the fire Tuesday night at Western Recreational Vehicle's Alpine Coach plant. I have been in contact with WRV management and I would like to share an e-mail I received.

Danny

Good Morning Guys,

Just wanted to let you know "officially" what is going on. There was a fire at the Alpine Coach plant last (Tuesday) night. Contrary to a local TV news report (and repeated on the Internet) the cause of the fire has not yet been determined. Thankfully no one was hurt and the building's fire suppression system performed as designed and confined the damage to a small area. Unfortunately there was quite a bit of smoke damage and we're estimating it will take approximately two weeks to get the plant back on-line. Ron told me that NOTHING with even a tinge of smoke smell will touch an Alpine Coach and that we are literally discarding dumpster loads of raw materials that look fine but may have been exposed to the smoke. In fact Ron himself is overseeing the clean-up and working with fire investigators to determine the cause. I'll be sure to update you as more information becomes available.

Regards,

Dave Woodall
WRV Marketing
Yakima WA USA

WRVACEMP · 10-13-2005, 05:37 PM

Glad to see Ron is taking an active part in this. I have met him a few times he is a stand up guy.

Just so the record is straight i just advised what I was hearing over the radio and made no speculation to the cause of it or where it was at another person in my thread and another thread starter did.

I'll have to get in touch with some of my "contacts" who work there and find out if they are going to be selling these "raw goods" at a discounted price.
That would be a lot better than just simply throwing the goods away.

Mike & Nancy · 10-15-2005, 05:53 AM

Danny......Just to reaffirm what Dave Woodall sent to you. We were in parking lot that night and the next several days, so we saw first hand what was going on. There was alot of smoke pouring out roof skylights; no visible flames and lots of water flowing (fire spinklers). Ron arrived shortly after first arriving Fire units as did several other WRV management people. The next morning WRV employees were very busy removing all items from inside building, pressure washing areas around spay booths etc. I heard from several employees and mgt people that nothing from fire affected building will go into a Coach and from what I saw in the amount that was being thrown away I believe them. This was our first trip to an ACA Rally and WRV plant. We were very impressed with the Factory operation and the apparent commitment to improving Quality Control. Based on what we saw and heard we would buy another Alpine in a instant. Also, we met great people at the Rally and in WRV parking lot...

Mike and Nancy

PS: I do have 3 pictures of one of the Coaches damaged in the fire...someone tell be how to post them and I will.