Area Operators Aid TX Laundry Following Fire
Southwest Linen Service of Stephenville, TX, suffered a fire on April 11, but area launderers, including Metro Linen of McKinney, TX, as well as linen vendors, have pitched in to help customers while owner/operator Richard Marrs works with insurance officials and others to begin the rebuilding process.
Marrs wasn’t immediately available for comment, but Roger Harris, owner/operator of Metro Linen said he spoke to Marrs on April 15. Harris confirmed that Metro Linen and other Dallas-area operators are helping Southwest Linen get through the crisis that began last week. Suppliers also moved quickly to replace clean linens that were lost in the fire, which remains under investigation.
“When he called me at 7:24 Friday morning he had already talked to Medline, ADI and Tom Hunt (Textiles),” Harris said, referring to a call he received from Marrs on the morning of the blaze that firefighters responded to shortly after 4 a.m. “They were all in the process of pulling linen together, identifying their available inventory together and getting back to him. All of them were responding. When I talked to Richard yesterday afternoon. He said, ‘Surprisingly enough, and thanks to his committed staff, not one customer has missed deliveries; we’ve had no shortages.’”
More than 20 firefighters battled the blaze for nearly three hours. While the fire caused no injuries, a warehouse adjoining the main plant was destroyed, according to local news reports.
Harris said he’d previously signed reciprocal agreements with Marrs to assist in such an emergency, but he and his staff were eager to help regardless of any formal agreement.
“The one thing that I found kind of surprising when I went to my management staff and said, ‘Hey look, these guys have had a fire. Can we run any of his linen despite running our solid two shifts?’ It was overwhelmingly, ‘Yeah, bring it in; we’ll figure out a way to do it. We’ll run the plant on the weekend and then evaluate where we are. But we’ve got to help him. It could have been us.’”
Harris has never experienced a significant fire in his plant, but he did have a comparable disruption a few years ago. He recalled how relieved he was when rival laundries and TRSA staff offered their assistance. “From an operator’s standpoint, they say it’s lonely at the top,” Harris said. “It’s gratifying to see who sticks their hand out to help.”
The fire that struck Southwest Linen also reminded Harris of the importance of emergency planning. When asked if he has such as plan, Harris said he does, but he said it may not be as extensive as it should be. “Ironically, that was the first subject of our staff meeting Monday morning.”