DONAHUE, Iowa — A massive fire broke out at Cinnamon Ridge Dairy Farm early Monday morning, burning its entire commodity building to the ground.
Owner John Maxwell said his daughter Amy had woken up around 4 a.m. on August 30 to check for baby calves, but instead discovered the fire.
"She noticed on the cameras that there was a glow in the background on one of her cameras, and she thought, 'That's pretty unusual,'" Maxwell said. "So she went out to look and that's when she found it."
The commodity building was where they stored the livestock feed and bedding that they've gathered all summer. Maxwell said it held around 100 bales of hay, 60-70 bales of corn stalk and 50 bales of straw. While they have a backup feed supply for the animals, Maxwell said it will only last about a month before they have to start buying more.
"It's kind of like you work all this time and then it's that's it's gone," Maxwell said.
He estimates the loss is over $100,000, but he's thankful everything is replaceable, and no people or animals were injured in the fire. He just has some confused cows today.
"They were all spooked, especially with the fire, or the flashing lights, because we got all the windows open," Maxwell said. "They can see out the windows and they're saying, 'This is unusual. What's going on here?'"
He added that he's thankful to everyone in the community who reached out in support.
"People of Iowa, people of the farming communities, will give you the shirt off their back if you need it," he said. "If you're in need, people come to help."
Fire crews remained on scene most of the day putting out the fire.
"It gets inside that hay bale, and just smolders and smolders and smolders until you shake it all apart, and you finally get it so you can get it all watered down and wet," Maxwell said.
The cause of the fire is unknown right now.
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