Wednesday was a day that will be etched into our minds forever. Husband and I left for work at 6:30 thinking that it would be a typical routine kind of day. Then as I was getting ready for a 9am meeting, he called to say that the family's Glass Studio was on fire and we needed to head home as soon as possible.
That morning, the stove pipe that goes up into the ceiling came off sending sparks into the building. My father-in-law and Linda, the candy chef, thought they had put it all out not realizing that some of the sparks had gotten into the attic and spread.
Thankfully they were both able to make it out of the building without harm!!!
That was the longest drive back home ever. Nothing could have prepared us for what we would see once we arrived. The smoke was so intense that the highway in front of the studio was blocked and you couldn't even see across the street. We just sat in the car in the driveway for the longest time trying to process what was happening. We were in shock to watch over 50 years of family business burning right before our eyes. It is literally like losing a family member. There were 12 firetrucks that responded from 4 different fire stations. If this was 'under control' I couldn't even imgaine what it must have looked like during the hour it took us to drive home.
Several news stations were there to report the tragic event. Here is a
link to one of the reports.
The original store was built by Husband's grand dad and added onto over the years until it morphed into the Glass Studio that everyone loved so much. Husband and his brothers and sister were raised at the store. They all say that they could sell fireworks and peanuts before they learned to walk and that artshows were an everyday part of life.
After a few short hours all that was left was a shell of a building and even that was still on fire. All the fire trucks pulled out that afternoon but by that evening some of them had to come back for round two. The middle part of the store was so hot that it had caught back on fire. The tin roof that covered that part of the store was keeping the water from reaching the flames to put them out.
This was the view from Husband's parent's house which is right next door. We are so thankful that the fire fighters were able to keep their home safe from the fire!
Those guys stayed and worked till around 9:00 that night.
A DeWalt drill was pulled from the ashes. Even though it was severly melted, it still worked. Pretty impressive, DeWalt!
They were also able to rescue the old peanut roaster.
While this is a terrible thing to have happen, we are still counting our blessings. We are so thankful that no one was harmed during the fire. We appreciate all the fire fighters and rescue workers that responded to the call and helped to keep the flames under control and the family home safe. We are overwhelmed by the response of family, friends, and others in the community and all of their support during this time. Before we left for the night, I heard one of the family friends say that God will use this to His glory and that this family is too creative to let a fire stop them. You know what? She's exactly right. Please keep our family in your prayers as we begin to move forward and decide where to go from here. Thank you.
