Updated report on the fire:
Google-translated (with only a few fixes as it is fairly readable) post of Eduard CEO from the Czech Modelforum:
Gentlemen, good evening.
Thank you for your participation and sympathy. We appreciate them very much!
The fire broke out in the morning on the second floor of the building, in the storage of moldings. The reason is still unknown, it is probable that there is a fault in the electrical installation. Nothing happened to any of our people, at the time the fire broke out, no one was in the area of the fire from us. Our people were taking an inventory of the moldings there, the fire broke out when they left for a snack. There were still maintenance workers working on the elevator in the room, it seems that just one of them was inhaling smoke and being taken to the hospital, so he was the person mentioned in the reports.
The fire destroyed just over one million moldings for about 200,000 models. Furthermore, a supply of about three months of transport boxes of various sizes, burned down. The delivery arrived last week.
Fortunately, the firefighters managed to locate the fire in this upper hall, so that it did not reach the second part of the building, the newer extension, separated by the wall of the original building and connected to the affected area by two staircases and connecting corridors. Thanks to this, other components for model packaging, instructions, boxes, decals, etchings, masks, etc. have been saved so far. The packaging plant is not damaged either, but we will definitely have to leave it.
In this part of the building, shipments are also prepared for some Czech merchants (MNM, Artur, Pecka, etc.). These are also undamaged. The question now is how do we manage to get them out of space and send them. They'll probably get a crane through the window.
The dispatch warehouse and sales department are upstairs under the fire area. Surprisingly, there is not much damage there yet, there is surprisingly little water that flowed from the upper floor up the stairs and in the area of the columns of the hall. There are stored things wet, but on a small scale. If we manage to get the goods out and move, I assume that we will be able to save about 80%. Of course, we need to quickly find other suitable storage and shipping facilities.
Unfortunately, there is a risk of the roof of the building collapsing, where the reinforcing elements of the reinforced concrete structure were obviously damaged. We will see how the structure will behave during its cooling and whether the internal stress does not tear it. And if so, whether the ruins of the roof will fall only within the 2nd floor, or whether it will break through the ceiling of the 1st floor. I hope it doesn't happen. Keep your fingers crossed for the barracks! The building is from the beginning of the 20th century, it is obviously robust and structurally oversized. Perhaps it will resist. The intervention commander said that if this burned in a modern industrial building, it would burn to the ground.
Thanks to Pep Choreň and the commander of the intervention, that they took me to the building after the fire was extinguished, and that I was able to find out the current state thanks to them. I have to say that it calmed me immensely, really immensely, and lifted my spirits. All day long we shivered so that the fire would not penetrate into the back, to the components of the models. I had been personally since flames whipped from the windows of the 2nd floor and one window after another cracked and shattered glass, reconciled to the fact that the finished goods on the first floor were definitely lost, that what would not be destroyed by fire was destroyed by water. Surprisingly, when we passed through these spaces, they were either undamaged or with relatively little damage.
As for our sales department, the plan was to close it on Monday or Tuesday next week and start inventories. The plan was to reopen it between January 6 and 8. How it will be now is unclear. We will see if we will be able to save stocks and when and in what fashion we can resume the activities of the sales department. If everything went well and optimally, it would probably be in the second half of January.
If we could not save the warehouse from the damaged building, we would temporarily open a sales department in Obrnice. In January, we would sell the January news, to which we would gradually add more items as we renewed and put them back on sale. Then we would move to new premises.
We will have the biggest problem with topping up the models, because we will have to completely restore the stock of moldings. That will be a great deal of work. We will go for it from the latest production and we will press from the news against the flow of time, gradually older and older items. Unfortunately, the purchased moldings are irretrievably gone, so, for example, the Dolphins will not be there unless a new purchase is made. The same is the Tornado, which unfortunately will no longer be with posters, or the Bf 108 in 1/32. However, there are moldings in Prague, which can be added relatively easily.
Special Hobby will also be involved in completing our moldings. SH has been producing for us for a long time, and in the very afternoon Jirka Šilhánek and Freddy [Alfred Riedel] promised me the allocation of larger moulding capacities for our needs. We are grateful for that, thank you!
Thanks again for the ideas for our support. We all appreciate them very much in Eduard, really. There is not much you can do for us at this time. In January, when we start again, the best way to help us is with your purchases. The e-shop will now remain closed until we are able to sell again, it will be clear what we are able to sell and we will be able to ship. We will keep you informed about the development of the situation.