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Fire destroys tobacco shed and its contents

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EDGERTON — Fire destroyed a rural Edgerton tobacco shed and 400 bundles of tobacco Tuesday night, and fire officials estimated the loss at $100,000 to $125,000.

A chimney fire was the cause of the blaze that destroyed the tobacco shed and its stripping room at 5911 W. Pomeroy Road in Fulton Township.

“The building is a total loss,’’ Edgerton Fire Chief Brian Demrow said.

Edgerton firefighters were first to arrive on scene a few minutes before 9 p.m.

“The barn was fully involved,’’ Demrow said.

About 30 firefighters from four fire departments remained on scene until 1 a.m. Wednesday, he said.

“It’s still smoldering with all the bundles of tobacco and laths,’’ Demrow said Wednesday morning.

People were stripping tobacco in the stripping room as late as 6 p.m., he said.

The fire destroyed the 28-by-140-foot building, a tractor and manure spreader, 400 bundles of tobacco and wooden lath that had already been stripped of tobacco, Demrow said.

A couple pickup trucks beside the building also were damaged, he said.

Fuel tanks near the shed were not affected.

“Once we got on scene, those were our main goals to protect. We contained (the fire) to that one building and protected the other structures and the fuel tanks nearby,’’ Demrow said.

Tom Sayre owns the property where the shed stood, he said.

Firefighters battled the cold as well as flames. Water sprayed on the fire quickly turned to ice, but nobody was injured, Demrow said.

The Janesville and Evansville fire departments each provided a water tanker, and the Milton Fire Department provided a fire engine. Stoughton firefighters provided a standby crew.