Inland Tarp rebuilds Inland Tarp & Liner bounces back after devastating fire

March 15--MOSES LAKE -- Glen Knopp leaned back in his chair and glanced out the window of his office as he thought back to the life-changing event seven months ago when a fire destroyed an estimated 11,000 tons of hay, gutted or damaged five buildings at Inland Tarp and Liner.

The very office he was sitting in was spared when a prevailing wind changed the direction of the blaze as it swept through the yard causing a boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion from a propane tank. Thick, black smoke poured from the burning tarps and buildings, eventually closed traffic on nearby I-90.

He gathered his thoughts and spoke with quiet conviction of the dawning of a new era.

"A catastrophe like this pushes you out of your comfort zone. So we thought if we're going to build it again, let's build it better than it ever was before," said Knopp, who relocated Inland Tarp & Liner to Moses Lake in 1998. "What might the future bring? Let's build it according to that as opposed to what we actually need today."

The fire ignited in the early morning on July 17 and was reported about 9:30 a.m. The blaze was deemed accidental by the Grant County Sheriff's Office. Employees were cutting a metal pipe with a chop saw. Sparks from the cutting reportedly ignited nearby combustibles. Efforts to extinguish the rapidly spreading fire were for naught and it took off out of control. The 26,000-square-foot facility, suffered extensive damage, though it was not entirely destroyed. Knopp estimated the company experienced fire damage to between 8,000 and 9,000 square feet in addition to the damage caused in the main production facility.

Inland Tarp & Liner never did shut down operations, using plants in Ohio and Texas to help fill orders as they got back on their feet.

They made due, then they made it better.

"I feel a lot better now than I did a few months ago," he reflected. "We still have a few challenges to work through. I don't like messes and we've had a mess here ever since the fire. But it's a little better. So far, we're ahead of the curve and we want to maintain that. I want a place where my employees can come in and say, 'I'm proud of the place I work'. But I think we are quite happy."

Haystack cover orders have increased almost double what they were for this time of year in 2015. Knopp said he is in the process of hiring 25 more people.

"We're expanding into a new area which we feel will be helpful to the local community. We're going to installing pump liners for orchards and irrigation," he said. "We're also looking to do secondary containment for local agriculture producing companies such as processors. It's something we've done on a small scale in Ohio, but now we're starting to get a real good start on it here."

He's climbed the mountains of insurance claim paperwork, juggled more balls than he ever thought possible and maintained a thriving business through the most trying of circumstances. One thing that has helped the process along is the support from the local community, friends and family.

"In the last seven months, we've had a huge outpouring from Moses Lake to people in Canada," Knopp said. "There's been lots of phone calls from friends and some from people we haven't talked to in a long time. I had one school teacher that taught some of my siblings 40 years ago actually sent me a hundred dollars and said you probably need this right now.

"I thought, oh my gosh, she's probably 80 years old and I don't want to take her money. But what a generous spirit."

He has bits and pieces of what the big picture might look like and is taking steps toward shaping the future.

"When I think back when I first started this business as a part-time job out of my garage, I'm amazed," he said. "I think of the UPS man that used to service me who would pick up the tarps. He asked, 'Did you ever imagine it would ever grow this much?' I could not. There's no way I could have ever envisioned. I never had plans, big plans or otherwise. I have a lot of good people that have been with me along the way."

As he walked across the charred pavement in the yard where the fire raged out of control just a short seven months ago, Glen Knopp and his employees have risen like the Phoenix from the ashes to build a bigger and better future.

It truly is the dawn of a new era for Inland Tarp & Liner.

Rodney Harwood can be reached at 509-765-4561 ext. 111 or [email protected]

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