Barn burn, MJ parts

[87Warrior]

It was just over a year ago I lost many MJ parts due to a barn fire at the family farm. I received the call from my father at 11pm. Shortly before that he received a call from the neighboring farm who said, "The sky is glowing and the big barn is engulfed. There is no point in calling the fire department." I struggled to rest before making the 1.5 hour drive to the family farm.

 

Here you can see what the barn used to look like. It wasn't pretty, but it was pretty water tight.

 

Arriving onsite, the morning after the fire.

 

 

The tin was still hot and some of the lumber was still smoldering, but I couldn't wait to attempt some recovery. What I found was disheartening. I'll let the pictures do the talking:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ugh. 3 bench seats, 2 interiors, 4 dashboards, 3 fuel tanks, two XJ's worth of interior bits, a 4.0L, and AX-5 are gone.

[Pete M]

that was a hot blaze indeed.  was such a major bummer.  

[500 MJ]

That is a shame for sure. Any idea what started the fire? 

[High2by]

That’s sad news but sounds like no one was hurt. Insurance?


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[PCO6]

87Warrior - I feel for you.   I went through a similar fire back in the late '70s.   I rented a barn that looked a lot like yours on land that was slated for development.   The house tenant and I were in the process of moving our things out.   I got a call to say that the barn was on fire and like you I only saw the aftermath.   Fortunately I had already moved my cars (MG's), tools and a lot of parts out.   I still lost a lot of parts, benches, shelving and materials.   The house wasn't touched.   We figured it was kids that knew the barn was being vacated. I couldn't care less about those MG parts today.  I feel worse looking at your burned Jeep parts.

[87Warrior]

10 hours ago, Pete M said:

that was a hot blaze indeed.  was such a major bummer.  

I was amazed at how hot it had to of burned. I suspect 70 year old timbers are pretty dry.

 

10 hours ago, 500 MJ said:

That is a shame for sure. Any idea what started the fire? 

A family member had been burning pasture around the barn earlier in the day. I suspect there was grass that had grown up around around the wood timbers near the sliding doors that started smoldering after the pasture burn. 

 

3 hours ago, High2by said:

That’s sad news but sounds like no one was hurt. Insurance?

Nobody  was hurt, so that is a good thing. The Ag insurance doesn't cover a material loss like this and the barn had been fully depreciated for some time. I did get a check from the family member who was burning that day for my estimated value of the parts lost. While I was happy with the settlement, I was more bummed about the 10 years worth of parts collecting that disappeared. 

 

2 hours ago, PCO6 said:

87Warrior - I feel for you.   I went through a similar fire back in the late '70s.   I rented a barn that looked a lot like yours on land that was slated for development.   The house tenant and I were in the process of moving our things out.   I got a call to say that the barn was on fire and like you I only saw the aftermath.   Fortunately I had already moved my cars (MG's), tools and a lot of parts out.   I still lost a lot of parts, benches, shelving and materials.   The house wasn't touched.   We figured it was kids that knew the barn was being vacated. I couldn't care less about those MG parts today.  I feel worse looking at your burned Jeep parts.

After all, the loss was just stuff. But dang it, it was 'stuff' I worked hard to preserve for these old trucks.  

[Zambeezy]

Well now I'm paranoid about my MJ burning up since it's in a barn on the family hunting land 

[DesertRat1991]

Sorry for your loss.  At least no one was hurt.

 

I am always curious if the guys with massive parts hordes have a plan to cover their losses in a fire.  

[Pete M]

1 hour ago, DesertRat1991 said:

Sorry for your loss.  At least no one was hurt.

 

I am always curious if the guys with massive parts hordes have a plan to cover their losses in a fire.  

 

 

I'm sure the home owners will cover most of it as long as it's well documented, but more or less my big plan was to just throw myself into the blaze after my parts.   

[87Warrior]

10 minutes ago, Pete M said:

 

 

I'm sure the home owners will cover most of it as long as it's well documented, but more or less my big plan was to just throw myself into the blaze after my parts.   

You laugh, but that might be the only course of action for some of the "only known remaining NOS" parts you have!

[Eagle]

What a shame. Those parts aren't quite irreplaceable, but they certainly are (were) rare.

 

Storage is a real problem. Many, many years ago, long before the MJ even hit the drawing board at AMC, my brother, a friend, and I were very active in the Hudson-Essex-Terraplane Club. We had a friend of the family whose late father had run a sand and gravel business. The business ended when he died, but there was a 3-bay garage on the land where the old gravel pit was located, and it was dry. She allowed us to park some of our vehicles in there. My bother and our friend put early 50s Hudson sedans in there. Sandwiched between them I had a 1947 Hudson pickup.

 

We went down one day to check on them, to find that some kids from the area had been using the sand pit as a backstop for shooting with a .22. They got tired of shooting sand, and cut loose on the structure. There were literally hundreds of bullet holes in both cars. Miraculously, because by sheer luck of the drar my truck was between two pretty solid cars, my truck was almost completely unscathed. I moved the truck out of there post-haste.

 

I hate vandals with a blinding purple passion.