Grace Harbor Farms will tear down a barn destroyed in a June 12 fire and build a new one, owner David Lukens said.
The fire caused an estimated $150,000 in damage — destroying the barn and equipment inside, according to Lukens, who said insurance should cover the loss.
“Whatever happens, we are super thankful no one was hurt and we can still run the creamery,”
he said. “We have several farms that depend on us, as well as our team of 25 people.”
The building served as a workshop and animal barn for the farm’s goats.
“We had a couple team members on site that tried to extinguish the fire but it spread too quickly,” Lukens said.“They saved the goats and moved our delivery trucks away.”
Grace Harbor Farms is at 2347 Birch Bay Lynden Road, north of Custer.
Lukens said a neighboring raspberry farm called him to say his barn was on fire. He was a couple of minutes away and raced back to find the barn in flames.
No people or animals were hurt in the fire, which firefighters were dispatched to at 4:31 p.m. on June 12, according to North Whatcom Fire and Rescue Chief Jason Van der Veen.
Crews found the 30-foot-by-30-foot barn engulfed in flames.
“There wasn’t anything to save,” Van der Veen said.
Crews instead focused on keeping the fire from spreading to nearby structures and dousing a 500-gallon diesel tank next to the workshop to keep it cool.
“That was basically the tactics they used,” Van der Veen said, noting that diesel isn’t as flammable as gasoline.
The Whatcom County Fire Marshal’s Office is investigating the fire’s cause.
“Our guess at this time, it was caused by a 60-volt battery and charger that basically blew up,” Lukens said of the off-brand battery.
