Amish business gets helping hand after fire

SMYRNA – On a bitterly cold Thursday afternoon, Sturdi-Bilt employee Daniel Esch stood inside the firm’s temporary office and spoke over the constant thumping of hammers outside.

“Not at all,” the soft-spoken man replied when asked if his Amish faith had been tested by a recent fire that destroyed a company building. “If anything, our faith has been strengthened.”

A week ago flames ripped through an office and supply building at the construction company owned and managed by local Amish community member Ervin Hochstetler. The New Year’s Day blaze swept through the building around 8 p.m., taking with it about $50,000 worth of supplies and equipment.

The Amish set up a small settlement on Route 2 nearly 10 years ago and have since opened several businesses. Sturdi-Bilt, which opened in 1998, sells rugged, handmade sheds to customers across the state. Several Amish community members help out at the firm.

Hochstetler was working on Thursday and unavailable for comment, but Esch recounted the fire that was most likely caused by a wood stove

“It was very cold that night, so one of the men started a fire in the stove,” he explained. “We left the bottom ash tray open a little, and we think that’s how the fire started.”

Although Oakfield firefighters responded with mutual aid to the fire and worked throughout the night, the building was flattened. Everything inside, including about $23,000 worth of inventory and $10,000 in supplies, went with it.

The day after the fire, the group started to clean up and rebuild. On Thursday, a four-man crew was starting to reconstruct a new office building. One of the major worries for the company, however, is that some schedules and invoices were lost in the fire. That leaves the group guessing as to what projects are pending and how much customers have already paid for them.

The business is asking all customers with pending projects to bring their paperwork to their office, which is now set up at a temporary site in a business next door to Sturdi-Bilt.

Esch said Thursday that it will probably take a couple of months for the employees to rebuild the facility. Community members have offered their assistance, and Esch said that the company “wouldn’t turn anyone down” who wanted to help.

Esch, a slight smile spreading over his face, was quick to deny that the experience had been spiritually trying.

“It reminds us that God provides,” he said Thursday. “And that he also takes away. … We must be grateful for what we have.”

If you have placed an order or have a pending project, call Sturdi-Bilt at 757-7877, or stop by the business on Route 2 in Smyrna.