Central Nebraska farmer faces millions in losses after freak fire devastates shop
LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) — A Nebraska farmer is looking at the path forward after a heartbreaking fire.
Mike Schutte was expecting a storm to hit his farm west of Hastings on July 11, and he packed his farm’s shop a little tighter than he might other nights.
The sound of thunder woke Mike around 4:30 the next morning, but he quickly learned it was actually the sound of tires exploding outside.
His son ran into the house, yelling that the shop was gone.
“And I’m thinking to myself, did we have a tornado? And he said, ‘No! Look out the window!’ And that’s when I saw the shop completely on fire,” Schutte said. “Very surreal moment.”
Firefighters from around Adams County sped to Schutte’s farm, but the fire had already claimed much of the shop.
“The fire department was actually out here in 18 minutes,” Schutte said. “But it was so far gone and so hot, and they have a hard time getting water inside of a metal building, so it was just kind of a containment situation after that.”
By sunrise, the shed was completely leveled. The fire destroyed much of the equipment Mike uses to make a living.
A combine, two tractors, two pickups, a planter, a grain cart and all of his tools went up in flames.
Meanwhile, he’s farming corn and soybeans this year, and now he’s figuring out he can avoid even more losses.
“Just need to get harvest behind us and then look at replacing the planter and self-propelled sprayer. Probably at least one of the two pickups for now. And then getting the building put up,” Schutte said.
He’s also a seed dealer, and he’ll need a building erected soon to store seed for delivery this winter.
Schutte estimates the loss around $2 million, an amount so large an insurance investigator was called to inspect the damage.
The investigator thinks a faulty battery cable on one of the tractors sparked, igniting its fuel tank.
Schutte believes he’s underinsured, and he expects most of the cost to rebuild will be out of pocket.
A neighbor and lifelong friend, Judy Dady, decided to start a GoFundMe to help offset his costs.
“When I found out the situation he was facing, I just knew that it was overwhelming,” Dady said. “And this was a small thing that I could do. Even though I didn’t know how to do it, I figured it out so that he has some source of income right away to help.”
Schutte says the community support after the fire has been very helpful, and he appreciates the prayers and donations people have sent.
His GoFundMe page has raised over $10,000 of its $100,000 goal. A link to Dady’s fundraiser can be found here.
