Lakeland Mirror

Issue date: 2/15/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Dino Mujakovic The remains of the barn after it burned down. Almost two weeks after the incident, the smell of smoke still lingers in the air.

Media Credit: Dino Mujakovic The seed room was one of the buildings damaged, but not destroyed during the fire. In addition to that building, the chicken coop and a storage were damaged as well. Another barn will be built but in a different set up, unlike the prior dairy barn.

"Every ten years my life seems to take a s***. In 1987 my father got sick and died. 1997 is when I had my heart transplant and now this year the barn goes down. Every ten years we have major turmoil," said Glenn Stuckmann, one of the owners of the barn which burned to the ground on Jan. 30, killing 67 milking cows.

The milking farm was with the Stuckmann family for five generations. Glenn owns the farm in cooperation with his brothers, Mark and John.

Life lessons from the fire which occurred about two miles south of the campus were shared with Lakeland students in the classroom. Christine Nett, an adjunct professor at Lakeland, is married to Stuckmann. She is currently teaching Aging: Biopsychosocial perspectives.

Reflecting back on the accident, Nett said the shock did not set in right away. "It feels surreal for a while. At first you are looking at and you are like 'Wow!' You don't prepare for something like this. You have to accept it and adapt at the time when it happened, you know. You can't ask why. You have to move on," said Nett.

"Ironically, the topic of discussion was 'Coping and Adaptation' the class period following the fire. Major life events challenge our coping skills and faith. Hopefully, the end result is growth and perseverance. My students witnessed firsthand on how one copes with major life events by sharing my story with them. The students were awesome in their listening and learning opportunity," said Nett.

The accident made Stuckmann and Nett rethink their priorities and take another look at the future.

"It makes you reprioritize what is important to you in your life once something major like this happens," said Nett.

Several 911 calls were received by the county sheriff's dispatcher at 8:11 p.m. on Jan. 30 reporting the barn on W3898 Garton Road was engulfed. Stuckmann's 15 year-old daughter was one of the people who made a 911 call. She also awakened her dad and informed him with panic about what happened.

"My daughter saw it outside the window while he [Glenn] was sleeping because he works third shift in Kohler. She woke him up right away," said Nett.

Fire departments from Howards Grove, Elkhart Lake, Johnsonville, Town of Sheboygan Falls, Haven, Town of Plymouth, Franklin and Ada responded to the scene. By midnight, there was not much of the fire left as the firefighters had it under control.

The cause of the fire is thought to be electrical but it is still under investigation. The fire started in the lower half of the barn on the north end and then spread.

The fire started suddenly and spread quickly. "My brother figures he left the barn at ten minutes to eight, went to Howards Grove to pick up two bags of food for the animals and went to Subway. He called his subs in from the barn before he left. He was on his way home and he could see the orange glow already," said Stuckmann.

"Probably, one of the fan motors got hot. The fire marshal and insurance company were here on Wednesday. They can look at the outlines of the fire and where the heat was and go from there. You look at the part where some of the cows burned. You figure out at 1500 pound cow was completely burned, so you know that area was hot," said Stuckmann.

The monetary damage, including the loss of animals, is estimated at $300,000. The farm was insured and should be covered by the policy. "But you never know with insurance companies," said Nett jokingly.

The barn itself and a storage unit burned down to the ground. Minor damage was done to the seed room and chicken coop.

"With the other cows, remains were there so we knew where it was the hottest and where it spread," said Nett.

Heifers and other little calves that were on the outside of the "L" shaped barn were able to be rescued because they were not inside the barn. Later one, farmers came with their trailers and picked up the remaining animals.

Some of the cow remains were thrown in the dumpster while other ones were buried. "The DNR (Department of Natural Resources) was here right away to tell us what we needed to do and gave us a permit to bury them. We will have the majority of them hauled away," said Nett.

The sheriff's department blocked off access to Garton Road and only let firefighters and residents through. The blockade was done mostly as a security precaution due to the fire, but also due to ice danger. Over 100,000 gallons of water were used to put the fire out and covered the roads with a layer of ice.

During the fire, volunteers controlled the fire from a safe distance. "Nobody was hurt to my knowledge, only the animals. It was, however, a very cold night and it was windy," said Nett.

The barn will be rebuilt with a different setup from the previous dairy barn setup. The future of the farm is still uncertain, except that it will not be a milking farm anymore.

"We don't really know. We will probably go an raise steers but we really don't know right now," said Stuckmann.

"So far, we'll build another kind of barn but it won't be a milking farm. We won't go back to milking for sure," said Nett.

Currently, almost two weeks after the fire, the farm still smells like smoke and remains. The foundation is expected to be raised as soon as possible to take care of the smell and move on.

Neither Nett nor Stuckmann are worried about financial problems at this time. "We both have full-time jobs so we won't be struggling as much," said Nett.

Nett is a licensed Clinical Social Worker. She has a master's degree in clinical social work and one year completed of her doctorate in clinical social work. Teaching at Lakeland is her part-time job. She has been working full time for 17 years doing psychotherapy with adults, adolescents, and children in Sheboygan County.

Nett owns and operates her own state licensed outpatient mental health clinic and outpatient alcohol and drug clinic in Sheboygan, Manitowoc, New Holstein and Plymouth.

At Lakeland, she teaches child psychopathology in the fall and Aging: Biopsychosocial perspectives in the spring.

Stuckmann and Nett have three children ages 5, 12 and 15 and have been married for five and a half years. It is the first marriage for Stuckmann and the second for Nett.

"Let's hope for something big and happy happening in the next ten years," said Nett, laughing.

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