The agriculture department’s barn and greenhouse were badly damaged by a fire the night of Sunday, Nov. 16. Agriculture teacher Gale Brickhouse discovered the fire when she arrived at Northwood early in the morning as usual. Multiple small animals died during the fire and agriculture property was destroyed.
“We lost everything,” Brickhouse said. “The animals, equipment, supplies. We had 19 chickens, several rabbits, several gerbils, we had a hamster and a gecko.”
Contrary to the report in an informative email sent by a school official to the community, a guinea pig was not killed during the fire.
Brickhouse elaborated on the destruction.
“We lost the old Ford tractor, several cages, several calendars, bookcases and all of our small animal equipment we just purchased,” Brickhouse said. “Because we’ve got like thermometers, masks, gloves, surgical scissors, all that kind of stuff.”
The event saddened Brickhouse’s students as well as herself.
“I feel like I’ve lost some of my own children, because we raised some of those [animals] since they were small,” Brickhouse sad.
However, she shared some hope for the future of the space.
“We’re checking into the insurance of it now, and they’ve promised me that it will be replaced—better than it was before,” Brickhouse said.
Northwood principal Justin Bartholomew penned an announcement email to parents about the fire and expressed appreciation for those who helped during the situation.
“We would like to publicly thank the Pittsboro and North Chatham Fire Departments, Fire Marshal’s Office, Chatham County Schools Maintenance, the gas company, Duke Energy, and the Sheriff’s Department for working with us throughout the morning,” Bartholomew wrote.
The main school building was not in danger of the fire.
[The school is] a whole separate structure, so the barn, the greenhouse and everything is up on a hill, and it’s separated,” Brickhouse said. “They were concerned about the gas line, but our gas line is not connected to the school’s gas line.”
Brickhouse is already thinking about the future.
“Stick with us and help us rebuild,” Brickhouse said. “We’ll bring it back better than it was before.”
– By Adrianne Cleven