'Devastating' Ashtabula County dairy farm fire kills several cows, ravages 4 barns
DORSET, Ohio (WOIO) - A massive fire at one of Ashtabula County’s largest dairy farms - which took over 70 firefighters to put out - killed several cows, destroyed one barn, and damaged three others, sources said.
“My husband would have been devastated,” said Sherry Comp, whose husband started with 15 cows to milk. “His grandparents built it in 1885, and it’s gone from generation to generation.”
The Ashtabula County Dispatch Center confirmed the tragedy happened at Comp Dairy Farm at 3015 Allen-Comp Rd. in Dorset.
Comp says the farm now has 2,000 cows, roughly 1,200 of those are milked, which is what the barn that started on fire was used for.
“The fire started, and Jerry told me to call 911, and by the time I got them and came out, the fire just went woosh,” said Comp.
“Over three-quarters of our emergency services are working on the fire right now,” one dispatcher said when the blaze broke out on Sunday evening.
Witnesses at the scene reported one barn that contained mostly hay was completely gone, and three more were damaged.
Comp says seven cows were lost in the fire, but people running the 24-hour milking operation were able to help the family get most of the 400 cows in the building out quickly.
Ohio State Representative Sarah Fowler Arthur confirmed at 3:44 a.m. on Monday that 15+ fire departments battled the blaze as farmers from across the region sat in line to trailer the cows to farms who had the capacity to care for them.
“This is after many of them had already put in a full day’s work!” Arthur stated. “If something this catastrophic had to happen, these men and women are the community to have backing you!”
“We’ve got people coming in from Michigan and Indiana, so it’s, it’s pretty incredible,” said Mandy Orahood, an organization director for the Ohio Farms Bureau. “My daughter’s six; she was carrying water for the firefighters, but it was the families, the farm families, and the community showing up.”
Orahood says people states away have been eager to help, as the cows need to get to a place where they can get milked as soon as possible.
Some are taking a few dozen cows, others a few hundred.
Those who can’t house any livestock are showing up with food or just as an extra pair of hands.
It is an overwhelming show of support for one of their own.
“They would load the trucks and get them moving, and as he’s doing that, we’re getting more phone calls, ‘I can take this many, I can take 40, I can take 50,’ and more truck drivers coming, so that was a blessing,” said Comp.
Arthur also credited deputies who directed traffic and water access and KINGS Towing, who distributed bottled water.
Arthur updated that all cows have a place to go, and pot trailers were sent at 10:35 a.m.
“In the midst of this tragedy, compassion and community spirit are shining brightly!” Arthur shared. “THANK YOU to all going without needed sleep and sharing your time, resources, and compassion so selflessly!”