ATLANTIC – Steve and Sue Anderson have faced more than their share of personal tragedy in the last year, and are now facing a professional loss following a barn fire Tuesday night that destroyed most of the inventory and equipment for their business.
At around 2:30 a.m., Steve noticed a fire in the barn where the family operates their business, Crystal Clear of SW Iowa. It had apparently begun sometime around midnight with security camera footage showing flickering flames just outside of the camera’s range.
Steve said he immediately called 911 and the Atlantic, Marne and Lewis fire departments responded. But Atlantic Fire Chief Tom Cappel said the barn was fully engulfed when firefighters got to the scene.
“It looked like it was burning last night (according to camera footage) so it burned quite a while before anybody got paged. And the structure was still standing when we got there, but everything inside of it was fully engulfed. The tin was glowing red. It had been working for a while,” Cappel said.
The fire destroyed a water delivery truck, delivery van, fork left and inventory stored inside.
“It looked like it had maybe started about midnight, (by the time I noticed it) it was pretty well gone,’ Steve said.
Wednesday’s fire is just the latest tragedy the family is dealing with after losing their only son, Avery, in a car accident almost a year ago. Now the family is faced with rebuilding a business.
“As Sue and I watched the building burn, the heartache that we’ve had over the last year has made this seem a lot less important, but it’s no less saddening. We put a lot into this business. We’re still going to go on, but it’s tough.”
Steve said he plans to get the business back up and running as soon as possible. Already people are reaching out including John Becker from Seed Pros who is allowing him to operate out of his warehouse for the time being. More inventory is on the way from Des Moines as well as a back up truck.
Steve said “thoughts and prayers are always appreciated,” and he asks for patience from customers. He has already started to look for a space to lease for a more permanent location, and would appreciate any information about that.
He also can’t say enough about the firefighters who were able to keep the fire from spreading..
“The fire department did a great job of containing (the fire) just one building,” he said. “They all deserve our gratitude.”
