Unfortunately, fortune abandoned Tobias all too soon. In 1914 there was a great fire in the “Viktorija” factory that destroyed the entire manufacturing plant, administration buildings and even Tobias’ own apartment. The firefighters only managed to save the nearby buildings. The loss suffered due to the fire was so great that the insurance company had to pay around 700.000 roubles (almost 8 million euros today) to compensate. There were probably plans to rebuild the factory, but these would have been interrupted by the commencement of the First World War, and never resumed.