June 10, 2008

Fire ravages Farm Credit Services

By GLEN WERLING

Damages could be assessed at more than $200,000 following a fire at Farm Credit Services, 1319 Baker Place, Monday afternoon.

A lightning strike from the first of three thunderstorms that passed through the area is believed to be the cause of the fire which started near the south end of the building at 4:23 p.m., shortly before the business was scheduled to close for the day.

Heavy smoke pouring out the south attic vent was the sight that greeted Bluffton firefighters upon arrival. The fire quickly spread through the attic, causing a huge portion of the roof and ceiling to collapse into the interior of the building.

While interior damage from the flames was not believed to be that serious, water and smoke damage was substantial.

Farm Credit customer service representative Janet DeWitt said that upon first assessment of the damage this morning, it appears that the structure may have to be demolished. That was an assessment that Bluffton Fire Chief Bob Plummer agreed with. “I think they’ll probably have to start over,” said Plummer.

Capt. Dave Brinneman, who was inside the structure, also concurred observing there was very little fire damage to the interior but the water damage was substantial. “I would say at the very least $100,000 but it’s probably going to be a lot more than that.”

As soon as the blast was heard, the business lost power. “We all sat there for a minute thinking that the computers are going to come back up. But that didn’t happen,” said DeWitt.

“I just knew by the sound of it that lightning had hit on the south side of the building toward the front,” said DeWitt. “We looked out and thought maybe it had hit the tree” in the front yard. Some employees ventured out expecting to see a downed tree in the front yard.

But by that time the rain started to fall pretty hard so none of the six employees inside ventured beyond the front sidewalk.

“Had we come clear out down the sidewalk, we probably would have seen smoke, but we didn’t,” said DeWitt.

“We went back in and that’s when we started to notice a smell,” she added.

“One of the girls called tech support in Louisville and told them that we think lightning struck our computers and we want to know what we should do,” she added.

DeWitt described the smell as being like a hot electrical smell. “When we first smelled something we opened the door to the room where the hard drive for the computers is located and then we really started to smell an electrical fire.”

Bluffton firefighter Brad Evans was at MarkleBank, two doors down to the north, and saw some smoke drifting out of the attic vent on the north side of the building.

“He came in and told us we needed to get out of the building,” said DeWitt. “He told us we needed to get out right now. We didn’t have the chance to do anything but leave. It happened so quickly. We came out the back door and the thick, black smoke was just horrendous.”

The countywide emergency dispatch center located at the Bluffton Police Department was deluged with 911 calls from passersby on nearby Main St.

Smoke was rolling out the south vent and pouring out from under the eaves of the south end of the building by the time firefighters arrived. Recognizing the enormity of the task, captain Matt Markley, who was in charge at the scene, requested mutual aid from the Ossian Fire Department.

Firefighters tried to attack the blaze from the interior of the building, but the fire roared through the attic, threatening to collapse the roof. The loud klaxon to clear the building for firefighter safety was sounded as flames started to shoot through the roof. Within minutes, the entire south end of the roof collapsed into the interior of the building.

The Bluffton Fire Department aerial was employed to deluge the blaze from above and thousands of gallons of water were poured on the blaze through the now gaping hole in the roof.

The blast that hit Farm Credit Services was so powerful that it also took down the computers at Professional Federal Credit Union next door to the north. Pro-Fed employee Kristi Lockwood said she saw the lightning and then heard a loud boom. Within minutes, Pro-Fed employees saw smoke start pouring out of the Farm Credit vent.

As thick smoke poured out to the north, it nearly shrouded the Pro-Fed building, causing firefighters to evacuate the business.

While the fire completely closed off Sutton Circle to through traffic, it had little effect on adjacent Main St. However, traffic slowed to nearly a crawl in both directions as stunned drivers could not believe what was happening right before their eyes. Across the way at the St. Joseph Catholic Church, the parking lot filled with cars as people gawked at the scene. Several people took pictures. Neighbors to the east of Sutton Circle braved two downpours that followed to take their own pictures. Some were carrying umbrellas, others just stood out in the rain and were soaked.

Thunder crashed just to the south as a second then a third storm rolled through the area. The heavy rain added to the water firefighters poured into the building.

Farm Credit Services now finds itself in a waiting mode to see what decision will come down from the corporate office in Louisville. “We’re waiting to find out what the disaster plan is in this type of situation. I can’t imagine doing anything but tearing the building down,” said DeWitt.

“Our supervisor based in Celina, Ohio, is on his way here. He was in a conference call this morning with the CEO and other people in our corporate office in Louisville and he will be able to tell us what we’re going to do next. I’m sure we’ll set up a temporary office somewhere in town,” said DeWitt.

“The fire damage isn’t that great, but the water damage is terrible. Everything is covered with insulation. Most of the damage on the first floor was from the water and there’s water standing in the basement,” said DeWitt. There are two offices located in the basement.

None of the computers were saved but the majority of the customer loan files are in fireproof cabinets. “Unless water seeped into those, we should be able to salvage most of those,” said DeWitt.

The main database at Louisville holds the rest of the records. “We’ll still be able to access all of our customer information, once we get new computers,” she added.

“It’s really unbelievable. I’ve worked for this company for 26 years and never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would be going through anything like this,” she added. “The fire department got here very quickly and I think we all thought they would get it out, but within a few minutes we knew it was going to be bad.”

Firefighters were on the scene until 9 p.m. No firefighters were injured battling the blaze. Brinneman noted that before they were ordered out of the building, firefighters managed to take the mainframe and some other items from the building and place them on a tarp in the backyard.

Police officers kept extra watch on the building through the night to ensure no unauthorized people entered the scene.

“It’s like those pictures you see that you think that you’ll never have anything to do with. But we’re just thankful that no one was hurt,” said DeWitt.

glenw@news-banner.com

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