Hartford Greenhouses owner Phil Wilhelm separates debris after a fire destroyed a storage building and four greenhouses.
Hartford Greenhouses has reopened following an April 23 fire that destroyed a storage and work building and four greenhouses, but owner Phil Wilhelm said he is still evaluating his longer-term plans for the business at 3084 Route 7 SE in Hartford.
“The fire originated in that large storage shed and extended into all four greenhouses causing damage, complete devastation to the initial building,” said Brookfield Fire Chief David Masirovits. “Nothing was salvageable out of that.”
Masirovits said he believes a wood-burner in the 24-by-90 storage building, which is used to heat the greenhouses, started the fire, but he has called in the Ohio Office of State Fire Marshal to make a definitive determination.
Fire marshal spokesman Andy Ellinger said a cause was not detemined, but the investigator “cannot eliminate” the wood burner as the cause.
Shortly after firefighters cleared the scene, community volunteers contacted Wilhelm about helping with the cleanup. Wilhelm called the helpers “tremendous.”
“Monday morning (the day after the fire), people were here to help out, start cleaning up the mess,” Wilhelm said. “Yesterday (April 25), the people that can’t do the heavy, really dirty lifting and work, cleaning up the burned-up storage building, they were cleaning up the melted hanging baskets.”
Wilhelm said he is selling what he has left, which includes hyacinths, Asiatic colored lilies, and garden-ready starts of lettuce and cabbage.
He noted that he has started squash and other garden vegetables at Red Basket Farm in Kinsman, but won’t have his usual assortment of flowers and other vegetation this year.
Wilhelm said he will consider rebuilding, scaling back and retiring.
“Just have to reevaluate and see what’s in the future,” he said. “The cost to rebuild anything these days is so high. Without really much insurance on that part of it, I don’t know. I’ll have to wait and see.”
Insurance companies typically do not insure greenhouses because they are considered temporary structures, and crop insurance is very costly, Wilhelm said. He has minimal coverage through his homeowner’s policy, he said.
Firefighters from Greene, Gustavus, Mecca, Johnston, Kinsman, Burghill-Vernon, Fowler, Vienna and Orangeville assisted, Masirovits said.
One civilian was injured and a firefighter pulled a muscle, but neither were taken to a hospital, he said.
