Microburst crashes into RADIUS' headquarters - 150 year old historic factory ravaged by 100+ mph winds; Radius decides to restore factory's original beauty.





Around 10 PM on Monday July 16 2007, RADIUS' headquarters was hit by a microburst. At first classified as a tornado, a day later the National Weather Service concluded that is was in fact a downburst of air from a microburst causing damaging straight-line winds of severe magnitude.

RADIUS has been headquartered in the beautifully restored building since 1988. It was restored by founder Kevin Foley, an architect by trade, after being unused and unkempt for a number of years. The building was constructed in 1863 as the Haeffner-Dietrich mill in the classic South German mill style. Later it became Beck's Mill, processing grains for animal feed. Kevin restored it to match its original character and maintain its historic accuracy, including keeping the 150 year old grist mill equipment hanging from the highest rafters of the building. The restored mill is renowned in the area for its beauty and the town of Kutztown, PA laments the damage and possible loss of such an important historic artifact.

On Monday night, July 16, 2007, a severe storm battered Kutztown, PA for approximately 20 minutes, hitting the town with wind, hail and monsoon-like rain. During the storm, high-force straight line winds came down a number of streets within the area, tearing trees from the ground and pulling siding from buildings in its path. The most drastically damaged area was the cross-roads of Railroad and Peach Streets, the location of RADIUS' factory, a foundry, and a restored railroad station that was once part of the Bethlehem Railroad System. As the winds hit RADIUS, they arrived from the west and disconnected the building's roof from its substructure. A quarter of the roof flew off and landed across the railroad tracks, not before slicing through the 66 kVA electrical lines feeding all major establishments in the area. After the roof flew off, the bricks of the west wall collapsed onto the 3rd and 2nd floors, subsequently causing the staircase to collapse onto the 1st floor and the floor to cave in. The collapse of the western wall caused a majority of the sprinklers lines and mains to burst, ultimately creating a flooding effect throughout the entire facility.

On Tuesday, July 17, 2007, the structural damage was assessed and deemed extensive with the added problem of intense water immersion destroying inventory and machinery. RADIUS is mobilizing as quickly as possible to restart operations and has set up a temporary office on the property until the mill component of the factory can be deemed safe and inhabitable and then restored. Luckily our custom bristling machines do not appear to have been damaged and can continue to produce. Unfortunately, our extremely efficient, low-energy molding operations took a major hit. RADIUS has manufactured its own toothbrushes since relocating from New York City in 1988 and may sadly be forced to outsource until replacements can be located for the five electronic molding machines. Regardless of these obstacles, RADIUS is confident that it will be able to maintain the premium level of quality that its customers have come to expect.

During the following days since the storm, RADIUS has been working diligently to clear away the rubble and begin the creative constructive process. First and foremost, a refuse plan has been initiated to minimize the amount of waste being carted to landfills. All reusable bricks are being saved for recycling; Whether it be for the 2nd restoration of the existing building or another historic location, founder Kevin Foley is deeply committed to recycling existing historic building rather than creating new buildings..

RADIUS will be forced to discard a majority of its existing inventory due to the sensitive nature of toothbrushes but the dirtied plastic handles and all salvageable inventory will be donated to organizations dedicated to recycling plastics for other products.

During this chaotic time, RADIUS toothbrushes, floss and cases can still be found in thousands of retail locations across the USA. Please use theStore Locatorfound on our Website to find a retail location near you.

We apologize for the terrible inconvenience this event has caused and kindly ask for your patience and understanding during this trying time. We promise we will do our utmost to guarantee the same quality and standards of service you have come to expect and thank you for your support.

Please feel free to visitwww.radiustoothbrush.comfor more information about RADIUS. In addition, please see the links below for related media coverage of the event.


Thank you,
The RADIUS Team


For press-related inquiries, please contact Saskia Foley atSaskia@radiustoothbrush.com, 800.626.6223 x.102

For sales-related inquiries, please contact Carol Brian atCBrian@radiustoothbrush.com, 800.626.6223 x.103

For general inquiries, please contact Customer Service atContact@radiustoothbrush.com, 800.626.6223 x.105 or 610.683.9400 x.105


Related Media Coverage:

• WFMZ-TV 69News - Toothbrush Factory Still Rebuilding After Storm (video)
• WFMZ-TV 69News - (video)
• The Reading Eagle Press - July 18, 2007
• The Reading Eagle Press - July 17, 2007
• The Morning Call
• NBC News 10 - Greater Philadelphia
• National Weather Service
• Wikipedia - "e;Microburst"e;