Greene County Flower Farm recovers from the greenhouse fire

Family, friends and former employees ended up in a long-time flower farm in Greene County in the Creanup crew after a fire on Sunday evening.

The fire in Shields Herb & Flower Farm damaged the central building of the longest greenhouse, in which wine barrels and seedlings were kept for the upcoming vegetation period.

The cause of the fire was not officially determined, but the owner Leigh Shields believes that one of the greenhouse heaters may have been blown up.

Shields learned from the fire for the first time when he checked a camera on his computer while his wife watched the Oscars.

“It was about 9 a.m. and I look and I go:” Why is the parking lot illuminated as if it is daylight? “, He said.

When he went to his veranda, he heard a repeated “boom” that sounded like shots. Instead, there were 150 cases of empty bottles, each of which exploded in the fire.

“I come around the corner of the veranda and I see that this thing is 20 feet high with flames,” he said.

Shields searched the greenhouses for hoses while she fought with black smoke, and crawled a steep dam to switch off the gas, he said.

“I fell on,” he said on Tuesday and was on a path under the remains of the greenhouse. “I burned my hair, so I wet my head and I crawled up there, and for the third time I got that thing and switched it on. Then I came here, climbed onto the deck and started with the hose. “

Six local departments were called to fight the fire that was deleted at 1 a.m., said Shields.

The plants inside were “cooked,” he said, including the earlier tomatoes in a gallon pot, hanging baskets and a citrus that he had had for 40 years.

“There's still an orange – black,” he said.

The total damage could be around $ 50,000 or more than $ 100,000 in the worst-case scenario, in which none of the wine can be used, said Shields.

About 150 barrel wine were in the greenhouse. About 30 were sung; Hopefully only half a dozen will be damaged, said Shields. He plans to save the barrels and inspect them on leaks.

On Sunday evening, Shields said to the firefighters: “Come back in two weeks. We will have grill wine, ”he said.

“It's unusual wine,” he said. “It is made of honey, so it is quite indestructible due to the cold or heat. It will be the first wine that is drunk on the moon. ”

For this greenhouse there was a large delivery of seedlings that arrive this week but are relocated to another. The apartments – 200 tablets with ground – all melted in the fire, said Shields.

Adjacent greenhouses took on some smoke damage and soot, but should be okay, said Shields.

“We won't know for a few weeks,” he said. “We don't sell them until April, so we have enough time. And the tomatoes, we will just make them. We are sowing. “

The greenhouse was not insured. Shields had sworn in after the company he used had refused to pay him after the farm had been robbed, he said.

“Up to this point we have been in business for 44 years, we eat it,” he said. “We had floods, we ate that. We just repair it and roll. But this is one of the worst things we have ever had. I didn't think something like that would ever happen. It worries me because I have 13 more heating. “

An online donation campaign has been set up to support the farm that cover the costs for reconstruction. The page in gofund.me/4f0fc47d had collected almost 8,300 US dollars from Tuesday afternoon.

People helped as they can.

Some contributed their specialist knowledge in electrical connections. Two employees who were on the farm when it was opened for the first time came back to voluntarily report. The veterans of foreign wars have a check of 300 US dollars. Other people have sold free hot dogs and pizza.

Shields removed a lot of debris from the wooden structure up the hill for a controlled burning and buried the damaged glass.

And the new heaters are on the way.

“We will try to restore this entire section,” he said. “I have to clean it, but hopefully until Sunday. I don't expect it, but that's what I strive for. “