On Monday, October 24, Ocean Quest Pools moved back into their completely-rebuilt landmark headquarters on Interstate 35 in Belton Texas. The original facility was completely destroyed by fire in April of 2011.
  
"This has been a major challenge," stated Lew Akins, the owner of the facility. "But fortunately, all of our data was backed up offsite, so we never lost a day of construction or service, and we were able to continue paying all of our suppliers and employees on time, despite having to work out of a hotel conference room and temporary offices for the past 6 months."
  
The cause of the fire in April was undetermined, and deemed accidental. A warehouseman smelled smoke and grabbed a fire extinguisher, but it was too late. He then just yelled to get everyone safely out of the building. The smoke was so intense that it shut down both lanes of Interstate 35 for several hours.
  
The rebuilt facility is similar to the original, except that they have enlarged the show room for hot tubs, grills, pool accessories and other outdoor living products.
  
"It's good to be back," said Akins.