Fire at Play-Rite

[John Musselwhite]

Hi Folks...

Some techs who are interested in player pianos may read this message with a
certain amount of sorrow...

 [ From an article in the Modesto (CA) Bee, Monday, Feb 3, 1997 ]

                Blaze destroys Play-Rite Music

One of only two manufacturers of player piano rolls in the country was
put out of business early Sunday when a two-alarm fire destroyed the
company's Turlock warehouse.  The blaze at the Play-Rite Music Rolls
building destroyed more than 40,000 finished piano rolls as well as
12,000 master rolls used to produce others.  A Turlock fireman said that
the warehouse is 5,000 square feet; the owner estimated the cost of the
structure at $140,000 and cost of the contents at $660,000, for an
$800,000 total.

The first report of the fire at the company warehouse, 401 S. Broadway,
came at 7:42 a.m.  Firefighters were able to enter the office area and
hauled out file cabinets, records and some personal items, and saved some
costly machinery in a back room set apart from the rest of the warehouse.
The rest was consumed.  The warehouse was used to store, package and ship
finished rolls.  Virtually everything in the building -- paper rolls,
cardboard tubes, corrugated boxes and an estimated 40,000 to 50,000
pounds of paper -- was extremely flammable.

Jeane Malone, 75, and her son, John Malone, run Play-Rite, which has been
making the rolls for nearly a century.  There is another Play-Rite
building in Turlock where some of the production is done.  But without
the ability to package and ship its products, John Malone told fire
officials, the company is "out of business completely."

Seven fire investigators descended on the blackened building Sunday to
determine what caused the fire and concluded it was accidental, probably
caused by one of the pieces of equipment in the shop.

--------------------

John Musselwhite, RPT
Calgary, Alberta Canada
musselj@cadvision.com