Local log home business damaged by large fire

After suffering a large overnight fire, one Jefferson County business is still open and operating.

Hearthstone, Inc., a local company of some 45 years, makes custom luxury log cabins for customers all over the world.
An early morning fire Friday destroyed its main building, located on Highway 25/70 in Jefferson County, between Dandridge and Newport.

The fire broke out around 2 Friday morning, and officials are still investigating the cause.

People connected to the business on the scene late Friday morning said they suspect a lightning strike during the intense overnight storms here ignited the blaze.

A large building filled with timber burned to the ground in a matter of hours.

Owner Randy Giles said while this is a major setback, Hearthstone is still open for business.

“It’s pretty stunning,” Giles said, surveying the smoking pile of rubble. “I’ve been coming in here 50 to 100 hours a week for 35 years.”

Giles had been more than 300 miles away when the fire broke out, visiting his daughter in Charleston.

“When you get a call at 3 o’clock in the morning and the caller ID says Jefferson County Sheriff Department, there’s a lot of things that can go through your mind, and this is one of the bad ones, but it could’ve been worse,” Giles said, gesturing to the remains. “You can see it’s wood, it’s metal, it’s concrete, you know, and we can replace all that.”

Not everything was lost. Nearby materials sit untouched, as well as several out buildings, some of which contain important equipment.
“That goes a long way towards us moving production to our other facility,” Giles said.

That’s right: another facility, just six miles down the road toward Newport, where Hearthstone can continue its operations as it recovers here.

“Fortunately, we’ve been developing that location just in the last year or so for experimental manufacturing, and we’re going to be able to put some new machinery in up there and keep right on trucking,” Giles said. “We’ll digest it. And nobody got hurt. No firemen got hurt, so how are you going to beat that?”

As of Friday afternoon, Giles didn’t yet have an estimated dollar figure for the loss, but he said three custom log homes in various stages of completion burned in the building, as well as two pieces of equipment totaling more than $1 million.

Hearthstone employs some 35 people, and Giles said any layoffs he might have to make in the wake of this would be temporary and short-term.

Officials closed Highway 25/70 in Jefferson County for hours Friday morning, due to the fire.

ORIGINAL STORY:
Firefighters were called out to a fire at Hearthstone Inc. around 2:30 a.m. Friday.

First responders from multiple departments were called in to help extinguish the fire.

Jefferson County dispatch said crews were able to get the fire under control.

Emergency crews shut down Highway 25/70 for part Friday morning, but the Jefferson County Dispatch said the highway reopened before noon.

Hearthstone is located on Highway 25/70 just east of Swan’s Marina.

There is no word on what started the fire.

Authorities said crews used more than 130,000 gallons of water to extinguish the fire, which is about three times as much water used to extinguish a fire at a typical home.

Hearthstone builds log and timber homes.

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