Fire at White Label Lube

[Lars Wife]

Fire in White Label Lube shop
Hi all. We had some excitment here Sunday night.
As the wife said, we take 2 steps forward and 120 steps back.
A fire started in our shop-origin unkown, everything had been turned off the whole day as we did yard work instead. The fire spread from one end to the other very fast. From the moment we noticed it, it was already too big and hot for us to do anything, so the wife called 911 as I cut the power to the shop. The rapidly spreading fire was headed towards the side of the shop where we had a 200 gal propane tank, so we gathered up the kids and the dogs and went to the end of the driveway(long driveway-we're scouts so we always had an emergency plan . The first responders were on the scene in about 2 mins and the firetrucks started ariving a few minutes after that. I informed every incoming truck about the gun room with the piles of ammo, gunpowder, primers, propane tanks... That's about when the ammo started cooking off.

Long story short, noone was hurt, the shop is a total loss including the gun room. Insurance has already been by, we are covered, now to start the clean up process.

We have lots of premade lube sticks and bottles in the office in the house, so orders will still be going out while we order new supplies and get setup to work out of the barn. We appreciate all of your patience and support in this trying time. If you order something that we can not get out within a couple of days, we let you know and can give anyone a refund that can't wait a few more days.

Now back to the story. Firetruck after Firetruck kept pulling in, setup hoses and had it putout in an unbelievably short amount of time. The fire never made it completly through the gun room and out the side with the large propane tank. The only part of the building still partially standing is the gun room, that's probably because of the 2 layers of sheetrock and insulation? It did get hot enough to melt the glass out of the wooden gun cabinet. I'm guessing that all of those guns would not be safe to fire anymore.
I don't know where to turn to next about all of the guns that were in the safe(not a fire rated safe) Are any of the salvagable or not? The top shelf of the safe had some guns in padded cases and the handles of the cases had started to melt but are still a recognizable pistol rug. All of the exposed guns in the safe are covered with and oily black spoted soot. None of the rubber pistol grips are melted at all. Some of the rifle barrels are rusted completly and others just have rust spots on them.
So where do I turn to to find out or ask if any of the guns in the safe are still safe to shoot or not?

Glenn & Leah Larsen

[bangerjim]

Sorry to hear about your tragedy. At least all life is save and secure. "Stuff" is replaceable.

Hope your insurance settlement come thru in a timely manner....at least you HAD it!

Best of luck!

bangerjim

[imashooter2]

Sorry to hear of your loss. As mentioned, thank God everyone is OK.

To your questions... If wood and rubber didn't burn / char, I can't see how the temperatures could have been high enough to affect the heat treat of the metal.

[denul]

Couldn't think of any other way to help, and I've been procrastinating too long to get some of your softer lubes. Sent in the order as soon as I heard. You do great work, hope you're back at it soon.

[YunGun]

Very sorry to hear about this! At least no one was injured, & hopefully insurance will cover everything to get you back up & running quickly. And I was just thinking last night that I really need to quit putting off an order for some more lube....!

[CPL Lou]

My prayers are with your family.

CPL Lou

[zomby woof]

Glad everyone is OK!

My prayers are with you.

[Hardcast416taylor]

I am also very saddened to hear about the fire destroying so much. My advice on the firearms safety would be to have them looked at by a competent gunsmith and get his opinion on using any of the more questionable ones. Melting a glass pane means that spot was quite hot. Can`t tell you how much I like the C. Red and BAC lube you produce. I actually blend 1 C. Red with 2 sticks of BAC for my lubeing and get excellent velocities and no leading problems. I`m set for awhile with sticks of the lubes, but will be ordering more down the road.Robert

[Dale53]

Lars;
I am truly sorry to hear of your misfortune. Good to hear that you are covered by insurance and I'm sure you'll be up and running in record time. It might be time to check out a fire suppression device. Some sort of a sprinkler system. You'll be starting from scratch, so you might set up a master switch so that when you leave the shop ALL power is turned off. That way if something is left on, it won't create a problem (my utility barn (where I cast bullets) is wired this way.

Just a thought - now go hug your family and thank the good Lord that you folks came through without injury!

Our thoughts and prayer will be with you.

Dale53 (a satisfied customer of long standing)

[btroj]

The silver lining in this horrible news is that nobody was injured. Stuff can be replaced, people can't.

I commend you on having a family preparedness plan and actually implementing it.

[randyrat]

Am very sorry to hear this, also very happy no one was hurt.

[fredj338]

Glad everyone is ok, yep stuff can be replaced.

[Buzz64]

Thoughts and prayers are with you guys. You produce a great product and hope you can get back in the saddle soon!

[dverna]

The FD will try to establish the cause of the fire. A "spontaneous" fire is possible but rare. It will be interesting to know the cause so you can learn from it.

Like others have said, in a way you were lucky. Loved ones are safe. Stuff is just "stuff".

It was good you had a plan. Everyone should.

Don Verna (first time customer and supporter)

[leeggen]

Check with your ins. agent/claims officer and see if they could recommend some one to check the guns. Sometimes they foot the bill for this check cause it is relivant to the pay off.
Good to hear everyone is ok and your covered.
Good luck with the clean up and rebuild.
CD

[imashooter2]

FWIW, I hired a Public Adjuster when Irene dropped a tree through my roof. We played it absolutely straight with the insurance company, but they came back with some seriously low ball numbers (I'd love to know where to hire competent contractors for the rates they estimated). The PA negotiated a settlement that allowed us to come out whole. You may be expert at these sort of things and can do the negotiations yourself, but I am firmly convinced that our PA was worth far more to me than the 10% he took in fees.

[357maximum]

Glenn

Very deeply sorry to hear that......what a bummer. If you need any "stuff" to keep the hobby alive just yell. As many deer as I have killed with your excellent 358-180 design and the lube chats during my lube insanity days......I owe you big already anyway.


Mike

[Larry Gibson]

Sorry for the loss. Glad no one was injured and it was insured. Please rebuild, the business is there. In reality there's only few of us who are prone to making our own lube........or try to...... You've excellent products and I recommend them every chance I get. I am becoming very fond of your 50/50, BAC and 2500+. God Bless.

Larry Gibson

[Mark Daiute]

This breaks my heart. I had no Idea. The only reason I'm on the lube forum is because I got an old Lyman 45 and had some questions about the lube in it. Tehn I saw the heading about your fire.

I am a big fan of your BAC lube and I'm grateful for the service you provide. You have made shooting more fun for me.

I am glad you were not hurt.

Speedy recovery for you all.

My prayers are with you.

Mark

[mdi]

Good to see the Good Lord is looking out for you, nobody hurt. Keep us informed so we can start supporting our favorite bullet lube manufacturer again ASAP!. I seem to be running low on my Caranuba Red, and 2500, and I'm gonna start casting for my 30-06 and need a bunch more lubes...

[jsizemore]

Stop the soot and lack of oil from attacking the metal. Mix up a container of Ed's Red and submerge the guns in it. If the gun has a plastic or composite stock or grip omit the Acetone. Your goal is to stop corrosion from attacking the metal.

[denul]

I placed an order on the same day that I read about the fire, about all I knew to do to help. I have been putting off the lube order for awhile, and needed to get it in anyway. It arrived today! Great service as always, but especially after these events. I really appreciate this.

[dubber123]

Sorry to hear about your loss. On the topic of the guns, get some oil on them ASAP, Diesel might be the cheapest bulk oil to get in a hurry. Any gun that didn't have a plastic or rubber part melted wouldn't concern me at all. I has an SKS from a fire, all but about 1" of wood burned off of it, and after a cleaning and proof testing with a long string, I shot it for years. It happened to be one of the most accurate SKS's I have worked with. Good luck.

[MBTcustom]

Holy heck!
I just got off the phone with them. I talked them into moving to Arkansas in the first place, and I've been meaning to go and say hey. Now is as good a time as any, and I might be able to help with the firearms.
Thank God they had insurance!

[Ajax]

Any word on them Tim?

Andy

[MBTcustom]

The family and I just got back from the White Label Lube company. I'll say this for them, they sure know how to make you feel right at home! We had dinner with them, and talked until way past dark. The level of damage from the fire was staggering, and heartbreaking, but they have an incredibly upbeat attitude!3/4 of their business has been reduced to a smoldering slab, but they are taking things in stride, and are not throwing dirt in the air and screaming "why me?!?!" like so many of us would be doing in their position.
Simply first class Christian folks.
I think I'm going to be able to help with the firearms. Given the circumstances, that's about all I am able to do. Quite a few of them got toasty, but amazingly, I believe most are salvageable! I told Glen to get some heavy oil on them as soon as possible to get the rust shut down, and when all the smoke clears, we're going to get together for a bluing run here at the shop.
The really hard part to see was a 5 gallon bucket full of aluminum molds, that were melted, or warped. It'd make you cry. Hopefully the insurance will cover most of the loss, but I know there's going to be a lot that will need to be replaced in the future.
They sure need some prayers if anybody feels inclined.


One other thing, If you like to feel sorry for yourself, or mope around, don't ever call Leah, or hang around her for more than 5 minutes!!! She is an unstoppable force of kindness and positive thinking! Absolutely an amazing person!
With her, it's all silver. There is no "lining".