FIRE!! Our 100+ year-old barns burn up in moments, a sad day on the farm

trestle

trestle

Joined
Feb 2, 2008
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I've always enjoyed the reverence for the past that lives in the Fiddleback forum and in that spirit I share these photos with you. We were awoken early on a Sunday morning by the roar of flames only to witness some of our worst dreams come true.







There were two barns on our small farm; one large and red, the other small and weathered. Both were full of immense character with the larger having been a dairy barn and the smaller a horse shed. The property has been with my family for over 40 years but widespread opinion puts the barns back to the turn of the century (19th/20th). Our small farm house is titled from 1892 which is fairly old for the Pacific NorthWest. I've lived here most of my life and the barn was a constant source of mystery, inspiration, and function. We even had a pair of barred owls who made a home within. Though it's been many years since we had large stock on the land, the barns still received frequent use for our smaller animals and equipment. We lost around 25 chickens and a pair of goats in the fire as well as farm equipment, recreational gear, and the truck and camper.







The corner pole that bore the brunt of the wind load had a unique (for this barn) footing. Notice the concrete that had been poured around the cedar post.





These spikes held a beam to the posts.



Notice the rafter spikes. Imagine driving those with a hammer. The steel is still incredibly strong.



Cedar is remarkably resistant to burning.




Thank goodness, for the pair of cedars in front of my house likely saved it. The pictures don't do the scorching justice.



A collage of melt.



More hardware.



And a closing frame.



Please feel free to ask if you have any questions. I could wax on poetically about my barn but I figured the thread was already long enough. Those of you blessed with old barns know what I mean. Thanks for letting me share here and as always the love for Andy's knives continues on.
 
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You are keeping a remarkably good attitude. Thank you for sharing the pictures, before and after the fire.
I will remember to look a little harder at all the things I could lose in an instant.
It was a beautiful barn. :)
 
Sorry to hear about that mate. I hope you and your family are able to recover from the financial blow as well; this fire is now part of your property's history.

Here's an idea: is there anything you can salvage from the pieces which could be used in...say...a custom knife for example? Maybe find some interesting steel for a bolster or if it's still strong enough some timber from one of those posts and have them built into the handle scales. Or you could make a piece of furniture, photo frames, bookends...or all of them. Keep that piece of history with you, just in another form. Just a thought.

I hope you're doing okay; things like this can be really heartbreaking.
 
I am very sorry to hear that.

Thanks for taking time to share pictures here.

best

mqqn
 
The beauty of the sky in the first two pictures was so... ironic?... tragic? I don't know. I was like the Aurora Borealis lite your barn on fire.

I am sorry all that happened.

TF
 
Sorry for your loss, it was a great barn:(, but you still have your house and property in a beautiful location. Glad you and your family are ok.:)
 
I'm glad you guys are all OK. Sorry for the loss of your barn and the animals.
 
That's a bad loss, but you still have some beautiful land there! At least no one was hurt, you can replace a barn:) you also have a great attitude about it, keep it up! Are you going to rebuild?
 
Thank you all. It's been three weeks so my attitude has had some time to adjust. As noted, gratitude has won out over bitterness. I am so thankful for all I have; a wonderful healthy family, my intact home, my beautiful land. Dealing with loss is more easily handled when you value what you still have.

As so many have pointed out, we were fortunate enough to get our kids to safety. They were frightened and confused but in the chaos of those early moments, they performed well. They stayed calm, got shoes on, secured the dog and cats, and went to warn the neighbors. I've never been so proud of my girls, they did all the right things w/o needing told. We then grabbed hoses and turned them on our yard and roof, waiting for the fire department. Our family car was parked next to the truck and we moved it just in time. We tried dragging out the riding mower but the embers and burning chunks were raining down inside the barn; the risk wasn't worth it. I was stunned and dismayed for a few days but dealing with insurance and trying to list all that was lost took over.

Loss? The truck is a loss; it burned up a bearing last fall so we parked it and dropped insurance to save up for repairs. Did the same on the camper since we couldn't use it while the truck wasn't running. So both are a total loss and that plan didn't work whatsoever. Also, the structures of the barns themselves were very, very old and out-of-code making them prohibitively expensive to insure. Fortunately the contents of the barn were insured and we can prioritize our losses to help recover enough to rebuild.

Rebuilding? We hope so but it obviously won't be the same. You simply can't find lumber like that anymore. If you look closely, you'll notice a lot of burned up rafters next to the truck; we had stored/preserved a whole set of rafter poles, posts, and beams and were planning another structure for next year. They were perfect pecker poles; long and straight with uniform thickness and not a knot in sight. Anyways, we will try to salvage as much wood as we can and use it in some way, either structurally or decoratively.

Chis Larrikin, using the old spikes as forging material was one of the first ideas I had. I don't know how hot they got or if that will affect their future use but I'm sure something aesthetic can be created.

Tal, the sky was dusky grey when I first went outside and then lightened throughout the fire. It was a beautiful morning, warm and still. We were fortunate the fire occurred early while the grass was dewey; it didn't spread anywhere or affect the neighbors. We were actually first awoken by some anonymous Samaritans who drove up to worn us (4:30 a.m.) by honking their horn. They left before we could thank them and have been unable to locate them despite serious effort. There was an ironic spirituality to the event, no doubt about it.

Fire origin? The lead investigator has over 30 years experience and he deemed it "inconclusive" with a possibility of fireworks. The fire occurred on July 7 and there were numerous fireworks shot off by the neighbors on multiple nights this year. We didn't shoot any this year, for a variety of reasons, and this was noted by the investigator. We also had well established routines with our out-buildings and were constantly checking on things to make sure all was good; this is the fourth structure my wife has lost to fire. I had always dismissed her fears but never will again.

Thanks again everyone.
 
Sad to see a structure with so much history lost. But glad no one was hurt and your home is still intact. Sounds like you all handled the situation very well and continue to do so.
 
Old barns are a true gift to our society. The history of the wood and craftmanship put into building them can never be reproduced unless you're in Amish country. I've been in the fire service since 1994 as a volunteer. I would say that fire works or spontaniously combustion would be my first guesses. Especially with the recent heat that we have had here in the PNW you could have had some hay that finally sparked off the blaze.

Sorry for the loss of your barn and your animals. Maybe your home owners will cover the loss of the truck and other equipment. If not that front clip looks savageable.

Thanks for sharing the photos and the history of your property.
 
Sorry for your loss. Great attitude. Keep it up.

Only a true fiddleback fan can see the charged remains of his barn and say, this is a great spot to take a picture of my FBF EDC. That's awesome:thumbup: I admire your ability to see the good in a otherwise bad situation. Your attitude is very inspiring. Best wishes for you and your family.
 
sorry to hear this. it was a grand ol' barn indeed. as others have said, i am glad no one was injured. wishing you the best for your rebuilding.

thanks for sharing. great pics.
 
Very sorry for your loss. Looks like it could have been worse, glad you are looking on the bright side.

Love the edc pic btw ;)

Good luck with the cleanup and the rebuilding. Looks like more history was lost than anything else. Maybe in another 100 years the next generations of your family will tell the tale of how the new barn (or whatever ends up going there) came to be.
 
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