Northwood’s agriculture department’s barn was badly damaged by a fire the night of Sunday, Nov. 16. Agriculture teacher Gale Brickhouse discovered the fire when she arrived at North- wood early in the morning. Multiple small ani- mals died during the fire and agriculture equipment 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.”
Junior Donna Sellers witnessed the fire.
“I was in the theatre room, so I could see [the fire]. First I was in denial, and then when I heard that nothing in there survived, I cried,” Sellers said. “I guess it’s stupid, but I just felt really bad about it.”
Sellers commented on the enormity of the loss.
“I’m a really big animal person, and I wasn’t in Ms. Brick’s class, but I know she spent a whole lot of time [in the barn]. She would come over the summer, and on the weekends, and she’d come every day and check on [the animals]. She worked really hard on the garden and everything. I just thought it was such a shame that it burned down, and that there was nothing anybody could do to stop it.”
The event saddened Brickhouse as well.
“I feel like I’ve lost some of my own children, because we raised some of those [animals] since they were small,” Brickhouse said.
Brickhouse, students and other faculty members worked for three years to build the barn, which used to be a greenhouse. A roof, walls, doors and electricity were added to the structure, which Brickhouse remembered as a “shell of a building.”
Sophomore Trent Bagwell is in one of Brickhouse’s classes and in FFA. He saw an advantage to the situation.
“We did need a new, updated barn,” Bagwell said. “Even though it was a bad thing to burn down and lose all the products, we got a lot of money from the insurance to replace everything that had burned down, and maybe add a few more new things.”
Brickhouse started working with the insurance company after the fire. She says the building is insured for $100,000.
“We’re checking into the insurance of it
now, and so 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 Marshall’s Office, Chatham County Schools Maintenance, the gas company, Duke Energy and the Sheriff’s Department for work- ing with us throughout the morning,” Bartholomew wrote.
Though the greenhouse and barn area is within sight of some classrooms, the main school building was not in danger of burning.
“[The school is] a whole separate structure, and so the barn, the greenhouse and everything is up on a hill, so 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 focusing her thoughts on the future. “Stick with us and help us rebuild,” Brickhouse said. “We’ll bring it back better than it was before.”
-By Adrianne Cleven