BEDFORD – Firefighters from Shawswick and Pleasant Run Volunteer Fire Departments responded to 2623 Tunnelton Road Saturday after a 911 call at 7:14 a.m.
Firefighters arrived within six minutes, to find the building, a historical summer kitchen built in 1859, engulfed in flames.
The building is owned by Darrell and Brenda Price. Darrell was released from the hospital on Tuesday after having heart surgery.
The summer kitchen was located about 40 feet from the couple’s home.
Shawswick VFD responded with four trucks and nine firefighters and Pleasant Run VFD responded with one truck and six firefighters. Firefighters used more than 4,000 gallons of water to extinguish the blaze.
Bloomington Firefighter Brett Roberts was driving by when he noticed the fire, stopped, and alerted the homeowners, Darrell and Brenda Price of the fire. The couple was sleeping.
A 500-gallon fuel oil tank next to the summer kitchen and other hazards made fighting the fire challenging, said Shawswick Volunteer Fire Department Chief Bob Brown.
Brown says a lightning strike from a thunderstorm passing minutes before the fire started ignited the blaze.
Firefighters had the fire extinguished within 15 minutes and remained on the scene putting out hotspots.
The fire destroyed the building and items inside including several lawnmowers, a tiller, weedeaters, and other equipment.
Brenda was extremely worried about the bees that lived inside the walls of the building.
“It was pretty impressive what the bees had built in those walls,” added Chief Brown. “She was really concerned about them.”
Brown returned to the fire scene around 3 p.m. and the more than 2,000 bees were back and busy repairing the damage to their hive.
“The family has lived at the home since 1966 and the bees have been there for more than 26 years,” added Chief Brown. “The bees lived inside the walls of the building. Brenda told me they never bothered anyone and she didn’t bother harvesting the honey, she just let the bees live on it through the winter.”
Assisting at the scene were the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Department deputies, and Lawrence County Fire Territory ambulance crew.
