Sad news - from Palm Springs, CA's The Desert Sun:
Three-alarm building fire in Banning blocks Highway 243; businesses evacuated due to chemical concerns
Firefighters are trying to determine what sparked a three-alarm building fire that forced the evacuation of nearby businesses and prevented access to Highway 243 in Banning Thursday morning.
The fire was reported about 8 a.m. in a 15,000-square-foot building at Lincoln Street and San Gorgonio Avenue and it produced a black plume of smoke that was visible in the Coachella Valley.
“There were multiple reports of explosions when the fire started,” Cal Fire Capt. Fernando Herrera said at the scene. "There wasn't any one spot you could say wasn't on fire."
Eighty-two firefighters responded to the blaze and the fire was contained by 10:45 a.m.
The business is Apollo Masters Corp., a decades-old company that produces a lacquer formula for making master discs which are then used to make vinyl records. Employees were inside when the fire began, but Herrera said none of them were injured.
From the Apollo Masters website:
ANNOUNCEMENT
To all of wonderful customers. It is with great sadness we report the Apollo Masters manufacturing and storage facility had a devastating fire and suffered catastrophic damage. The best news is all of our employees are safe. We are uncertain of our future at this point and are evaluating options as we try to work through this difficult time. Thank you for all of the support over the years and the notes of encouragement and support we have received from you all.
From music news site Pitchfork
“Devastating” Manufacturing Plant Fire Threatens Worldwide Vinyl Record Supply
Apollo Masters—a manufacturing plant that supplies the lacquer used for making master discs, which are used to make vinyl records—suffered a fire on Thursday, February 6, at its manufacturing and storage facility in Banning, California.
Some more:
“From my understanding, this fire will present a problem for the vinyl industry worldwide,” Ben Blackwell, co-founder of Third Man Records told Pitchfork in an email. “There are only TWO companies that make lacquers in the world, and the other, MDC in Japan, already had trouble keeping up with demand BEFORE this development.” (The emphasis is Blackwell’s.)
Blackwell also wrote that there have been “whispers” of another company “entertaining the idea” of entering the lacquer marketplace, but that Apollo was also the “primary or possibly only supplier of the styli” that are used in the vinyl pressing process. “I imagine this will affect EVERYONE, not just Third Man Pressing and Third Man Mastering, but to what extent remains to be seen.”
Hope that they are able to rebuild. California will be a bear with all the environmental rules these days. Their old plant was probably grandfathered in - any new construction will be incredibly intricate/expensive.
Not a vinyl person - sold my albums a long time ago but I do appreciate the technology and it does give a different sound to the music.
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