Barn Fire Survivor

(Pepper is still requiring supportive care and that curtails my ability to get much done, so here is that one last bit about the Feast that I mentioned yesterday.)

See that table in my tent? The one with the ubiquitous Vanilla Coke Zero can on it? (The pewter mugs in other Feast photos of me were convenient ways to "have my Coke and drink it, too.")

Those black spots are not a spill or stain nor are they dirt.

They are charred spots from a fire. This table is one of the few things that survived the fire that destroyed my parents' orchard barn and store in December, 2011.

It was stored in a spot in the barn where the roof collapsed and then insulation melted and fell onto the things below. There is more damage on the legs but I did not get pictures of that.

That table was a sobering reminder of a horrible day for my family and me.

This is what our barn looked like the summer before it burned to the ground. Below is the blog post I wrote about the fire if you are interested in what happened.

December 5, 2011

At 3:00 this afternoon my cell phone rang. My sister, Leslie, was on the line and she told me that the buildings at our family's orchard were on fire. I called the school office and got Mr. Schnepp to cover for me, grabbed my things and headed up to Brookston.

I went via Americus and out into the country to pick up 18 which runs close to our property. From several miles away, I could see the smoke in the distance - lots of it. My heart sank when I came around the bend and saw the barn and apple store my parents had built aflame and going up in smoke.

This is the north side of what was once a huge, lovely green pole barn.

The east side of the barn. I am not sure if the fire fighters pulled these sheets of siding off the barn to fight the fire or if they came off because of the flames' heat.

This picture makes me so sad. It's the barn entrance, and my father used to stand just inside and work. He'd smile and wave to me from here when I pulled up in my car.

The barn was attached to the apple store by a passageway. This made transporting apples from the barn to the store easier. Unfortunately, it made the spread of the fire easier, too.

The apple store aflame. The barn is behind it and obscured by smoke.

The entrance to the apple store. It used to be very welcoming with flowers and park benches, plus the smell of fresh apples wafting out. Now it looks like this.

A window in the apple store. The glass was on the ground outside the window, so I think the window may have broken due to the heat.

Chalmers, Battleground, and Brookston fire departments responded to the fire. I counted at least twelve vehicles on the grounds and parked alongside the road.

The north side of the barn, all crumpled to the ground. (It was a HUGE barn.)

One firefighter told me they were having trouble putting the fire out in the store. He said that, because the store was metal, the heat was all bottled up and made the building too hot for them to enter. So, they tried to put out the flames by peeling off the roof and the sides.

Another shot of the once-beautiful green barn.

The barn and store as seen from Jonnie's home.

Trying to peel off the roof to beat back the fire inside.

An old fuel tank (luckily, it was empty) sits outside the east side of the barn.

Another look at the fuel tank and debris from the barn.

A firefighter stands amid the debris and pours water on a hotspot.

It breaks my heart to see bits and pieces of the barn torn apart and strewn across the grounds.

This fireman stepped aside and kneeled down. The other two came over to check on him. I am not sure what happened to him, but I hope he is okay.

I am saddest about the loss of our apple grader. It was about fifteen feet long and included a polisher, then a moving belt with slots where apples dropped down and into chutes where they rolled into bins where we would bag the apples. It was so much fun to watch, and we spent hours working/playing with it.

It's been an emotional afternoon and I am thankful that no one was hurt. I will post more as I hear more.

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No one was hurt in the fire, but the barn and the apple store were total losses. Lots of memories with my father went up in smoke, too. Using that charred table at the Feast made me feel close to him.

Our Own Barn Fire - December, 2011

I briefly mentioned barn fires a few days ago in the Beautiful Barns post. What I did not mention is that my family lost a barn at our apple orchard to fire in December, 2011. No horses were housed in it as my father was using it as an implement barn, but here is the blog entry I wrote in our family blog at the time.

This is what our barn looked like the summer before it burned to the ground.

December 5, 2011

At 3:00 this afternoon my cell phone rang. My sister, Leslie, was on the line and she told me that the buildings at our family's orchard were on fire. I called the school office and got Mr. Schnepp to cover for me, grabbed my things and headed up to Brookston.

I went via Americus and out into the country to pick up 18 which runs close to our property. From several miles away, I could see the smoke in the distance - lots of it. My heart sank when I came around the bend and saw the barn and apple store my parents had built aflame and going up in smoke.

This is the north side of what was once a huge, lovely green pole barn.

The east side of the barn. I am not sure if the fire fighters pulled these sheets of siding off the barn to fight the fire or if they came off because of the flames' heat.

This picture makes me so sad. It's the barn entrance, and my father used to stand just inside and work. He'd smile and wave to me from here when I pulled up in my car.

The barn was attached to the apple store by a passageway. This made transporting apples from the barn to the store easier. Unfortunately, it made the spread of the fire easier, too.

The apple store aflame. The barn is behind it and obscured by smoke.

The entrance to the apple store. It used to be very welcoming with flowers and park benches, plus the smell of fresh apples wafting out. Now it looks like this.

A window in the apple store. The glass was on the ground outside the window, so I think the window may have broken due to the heat.

Chalmers, Battleground, and Brookston fire departments responded to the fire. I counted at least twelve vehicles on the grounds and parked alongside the road.

The north side of the barn, all crumpled to the ground. (It was a HUGE barn.)

One firefighter told me they were having trouble putting the fire out in the store. He said that, because the store was metal, the heat was all bottled up and made the building too hot for them to enter. So, they tried to put out the flames by peeling off the roof and the sides.

Another shot of the once-beautiful green barn.

The barn and store as seen from Jonnie's home.

Trying to peel off the roof to beat back the fire inside.

An old fuel tank (luckily, it was empty) sits outside the east side of the barn.

Another look at the fuel tank and debris from the barn.

A firefighter stands amid the debris and pours water on a hotspot.

It breaks my heart to see bits and pieces of the barn torn apart and strewn across the grounds.

This fireman stepped aside and kneeled down. The other two came over to check on him. I am not sure what happened to him, but I hope he is okay.

I am saddest about the loss of our apple grader. It was about fifteen feet long and included a polisher, then a moving belt with slots where apples dropped down and into chutes where they rolled into bins where we would bag the apples. It was so much fun to watch, and we spent hours working/playing with it.

It's been an emotional afternoon and I am thankful that no one was hurt. I will post more as I hear more.

I feel rather emotional as I reread what I wrote seven years ago. No one was hurt in the fire, but the barn and the apple store were total losses. Lots of memories with my father went up in smoke, too.