Nov. 7—MADISON TWP. — While a fire destroyed a barn of a popular Butler County business, the owner is thankful no one was injured and the damage wasn’t more severe.
When firefighters arrived at Norvell’s Turf Management Inc., 7548 Elk Creek Road, at 8:35 a.m. Friday, the barn was engulfed in flames, said Thomas Hall, a Madison Twp. firefighter.
He said the barn was full of hay with three trucks parked inside.
Chad Norvell, the business owner, said all the crews were off-site when the fire started. He was working in Carlisle when he received a phone call from the Butler County Sheriff’s Office.
“It catches you off guard,” he said of the phone call. “It’s devastating.”
At the time, he didn’t know which of the three structures and three greenhouses was on fire. He called the fire being isolated to one barn with hay and snow removal equipment “the best of a bad situation.”
He said the business has insurance, so everything will be replaced and customers will receive services.
More than the lost equipment, Norvell said he was thankful no employees or firefighters were injured.
“That stuff can be replaced,” he said.
Norvell said the cause of the fire remains undetermined.
Hall said the building and its contents were a total loss. He didn’t know the value of the property loss.
Madison received mutual aid from Trenton, Wayne Twp., St. Clair Twp., German Twp. and Carlisle, Hall said.
Norvell said the work of the fire departments was “phenomenal.”