VALE, N.C. (WJZY) — “We will be rebuilding,” WoodMill Winery posted on social media after a fire erupted early Sunday morning and burned the Lincoln County business to the ground.
The North 321 Fire Department said that they first received the call about a fire at WoodMill Winery around 8 a.m. on Sunday.
When crews arrived, they reported seeing a large column of black smoke coming from the structure. By 8:10 a.m., heavy fire was visible on all sides of the building.
No one was inside when the fire started. It is still unclear what caused the fire.
Five departments from two counties, with 40 firefighters, worked to extinguish the flames. The fire was brought under control at 10:30 a.m.
Larry Cagle, WoodMill’s owner, told WJZY he lost 350,000 bottles of wine and possibly more.
“The cross, the flag, and our faith are still standing,” said Cagle about the business, which is located about 45 miles northwest of Charlotte.
Crews worked throughout the day to extinguish hotspots and salvage anything they could.
The news that Cagle plans to rebuild is being welcomed by many people.
“I’ve been going [to WoodMill] for years,” said Karen Foster from Shelby. “It’s a wonderful place to go and spend the day, to have festivals. It’s very special to the whole community, several surrounding counties, people come from all over. [The fire’s] really sad.”
Lindsey Smith from Casar wrote in a message, “Everyone is so so nice and just friendly people all of them, I recently talked to the owner and he talked about how much time and work it took to build the place. I feel nothing but sadness.”
The fire is under investigation by the Lincoln County Fire Marshal’s Office. Emergency Management officials were also contacted to mitigate the large amount of wine runoff from the structure.
David Schuman
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