At about 2:45, Saturday, September 20, firefighters responded to a barn fire at the Hodge Stratton Farm on South Washington Street in Oxford. (Photo submitted)

OXFORD — At about 2:45 p.m., Saturday, September 20, firefighters responded to a barn fire at the Hodge Stratton Farm on South Washington Street in Oxford.

Chenango County fire crews dispatched were Oxford, Smithville, Guilford, Norwich, Greene, Chenango County, McDonough, and Coventry.

Chenango County Emergency Management Director Matthew Beckwith said the barn went so fast and by the time the first units arrived, the progression of the fire was fully involved.

Farm owners Jesse and Catherine Hodge were home when the fire started in the barn and tried to put it out with buckets and a water hose but to no avail.

“My wife and I called emergency at 2:32 p.m.,” said Hodge. “I think it was about 2:45 p.m. when the first truck arrived but the fire was moving to additional out-buildings.”

They lost a dairy barn, smaller dairy barn, horse barn, riding arena, all riding equipment, tack, tools, tractors, and all equipment inside the barns. Their 13 horses were saved, but three heifers and a calf in the dairy barn were lost.

Two of their jersey cows were badly burned, one was carrying a calf. Hodge noted they have survived with the help from Leather Stocking Veterinary and are recovering at Peila View Farm. They were given a 30 percent chance to make it through the night.

“They are still alive and doing well and the one is still pregnant with the calf,” Hodge said. “Those two had the will to survive out of all of the animals we have.”

He said the day of the fire started just like any normal work day on the farm. He was working on a water line in the barn, trying to get a piece of the line out that needed replacing, and took his lighter out to warm up the plastic, something he said he's done a million times.

“I had my lighter in my pocket, took it out to use it to warm up the black plastic inner piece, that usually makes it easy to pull the piece right out and then easy to push the new piece down in,” he said.

“That's when a hanging cobweb above me caught fire, not necessarily the cobweb but the dust on it and created an explosion of embers that sprayed like spiders all over the wall,” said Hodge. “The cobweb then fell into the hay I had just fed the heifers.”

“It was like falling into a pale of gasoline and exploded up,” he added. “It was instantaneous.”

Hodge said he had a bucket of water nearby and threw that on the fire but it wasn't enough to cover it.

“We were throwing water at it, I had water in a bucket and we threw that on it and had our hose on it, but there was no stopping it,” he said.

Hodge said the good news is the house was not lost to the fire and the family is doing ok, just very overwhelmed.

“We are going to keep the horses here at the property for the time being and try to put up some running sheds in one of the pastures for them to stay in for the winter,” he said. “The cows will temporarily stay at the Pielas’ farm.”

“Keeping the horses here is best for the family, giving them something to do; feeding and riding,” he added. “Plus, there aren't many places that can take in that many horses, so they're comfortable here and we'll winter it out here.”

Hodge said he has high hopes to rebuild next year, creating new facilities and structuring the buildings to allow more community opportunities as a way to give back for the overwhelming amount of support they've received.

“The community, our friends, people we show cows and horses with and family members have all been so supportive with donations, supplies, funds, food, and so much,” he said. “Friends came out with trailers to move the animals, there was such an overwhelming amount of support. We're very humbled.

“You hear about these small town stories about people coming together and although this has been really sad, it's times like this that open your eyes and allows people to become so generous, the community has been absolutely wonderful,” said Hodge.

The fire investigator and insurance adjuster recently visited the property and gave Hodge the “ok” to begin cleaning things up.

“We have no idea how long it will take the insurance company to get us paid out but obviously the buildings are a total loss and all of the contents inside,” he continued. “The insurance adjuster said the buildings will probably be paid out first, it may take a few weeks or so for the rest to be paid.”

Family member Jennifer Vidler Hodge put together a Go fund me page and it can be found at: https://gofund.me/e7442f6ad

Hidden Ponds for Horse Lovers 4-H is hosting a bake sale and donation box from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., October 11, at Tractor Supply, located at 5360 NY Highway 12 in Norwich.

Baked goods for the sale can be dropped at the store at 10 a.m. The bake sale is cash only and will donate all funds to the Hodge family. Club members encourage everyone to come out in support.

The well known Oxford farm was originally purchased in 1964 by Catherine Stratton Hodge's father. Over the years, local residents visited for events such as horse back riding and pumpkin-patch picking. Area schools also used their property for an additional location to practice sports, such as soccer and softball.