Help John Richards Rebuild After Devastating Fire

On Monday October 7th, 2024 my uncle John Richards was outside in his garden tilling when he noticed a small fire in the grass to the side of his barn. He grabbed the garden hose to start putting that out when he noticed a second fire back to the side of the barn by the old railroad car. He then looked at the barn and noticed smoke rolling out from under the eave. When looking at the barn there was curls of smoke with sparks in them coming from the roof of the barn. He went in the house to call Emergency Services. When he came back out the whole top of the barn was enfolded in flames. Power lines were breaking and sparking. Four fire departments ended up responding to help get the fire under control. The fire ended up taking the entire barn, the milk house, the silage house, an 1800s railroad car, an outbuilding, and melted the siding off the garage.

The fire burned into today (10/8). The state fire marshal wants all of the leftover derby buried into a hole out in the pasture. He’s having a few different companies come out to bid the job. His homeowners insurance said they wouldn’t cover the replacement siding for the garage as it was the barn that caused the fire. The state fire marshal ruled the cause of the fire as spontaneous combustion from the old hay in the loft of the barn.

John bought his farm in Plummer, MN in 2022 after living in North Minneapolis for 25 years. His family grew up on a farm in Cass Lake, MN for all of their childhood and he was ready to get back to his roots. Since buying the farm he has redone the entire inside of his home. He’s made many changes to his out buildings and started raising chickens. He had plans to redo his barn with time and make a living quarters in the loft.

We’re attempting to raise funds to assist in the cost of having so many different entities out to the farm for the fire and the clean up. It’s a devastating time for him right now as he works two jobs to try and improve his farm everyday. If unable to donate, a share would help tremendously.