FRUITLAND, Iowa — Perseverance and change has been the name of the game for Blue Flame Propane LLC of Fruitland.

The longtime family company expanded its fertilizer business, O’Toole Inc., in 2002 to include Blue Flame Propane. The Greg and Kelly O’Toole family of Letts wanted to broaden its horizons and found having multiple businesses would work.

“We were looking to diversify and it was easy because a lot of the customer base is the same,” said Kelly O’Toole.

But propane sales can be slow in the summer and fertilizer sales are also seasonal, so the O’Tooles added another seasonal business, dust control, to keep them busy and continue progressing.

“The dust control we spray on gravel is tree sap and 100 percent environmentally safe,” said sales and marketing manager Wayne VanAuken, one of six employees at Blue Flame.

Blue Flame was the first business hit by the 2007 tornado that devastated Fruitland, and destroyed the office building at 101 Turkey Road.

“We watched it form and come down to the ground. We were all in the office when it took the roof off and a couple of walls buckled,” VanAuken said.

The Blue Flame employees worked out of a trailer for five months before moving into their new building in October 2007.

“We overcame that problem and we have continually grown since. We didn’t give up,” VanAuken added.

Blue Flame is doing its part for the environment and also saving money along the way. Most of its  company trucks have been converted to run on propane.

“You can go 3,000 miles in your vehicle before an oil change and the oil is black. In these vehicles you could run 10,000 to 15,000 miles and the oil is just as clean as the day you put it in,” VanAuken said.

He encourages drivers to consider using propane-operated vehicles because of the benefits such as longevity of engines. And there is a federal tax incentive of 50 cents per gallon for using the motor fuel form of the product, he said, which costs about $2.70 per gallon at Blue Flame.

Blue Flame has one truck with more than 300,000 miles on it and it still runs — although it looks like a clunker on the outside, VanAuken said.

Details

What: Blue Flame Propane LLC; propane and dust control

Where: 101 Turkey Road, Fruitland

Phone: 563-263-8808