It's every innkeepers nightmare in the hospitality business to imagine a fire happening let alone actually living through it. In early March of this year Inn owner Wayne Engel was at the grocery store when his inn manager called in a panic to say that there was a fire in the laundry room. Wayne immediately left the grocery store called 911 and headed back to the inn. He discovered the fire had engulfed a dryer in the basement laundry room. Waiting for the fire department he took the initiative and grabbed the fire extinguisher and continually took deep breath's outside and ran in to where the fire was and extinguished the fire several times, finally putting it out. Thank goodness for his quick thinking as the local fire department ended up taking 30 minutes to arrive as they were dealing with another fire in the area. Wayne suffered minimal smoke inhalation as he had held his breath most times. Fortunately no one else was injured or effected. However the dryer had melted from the heat and caused the awful smoke that had risen throughout the 10 room inn leaving residue and smoke odour throughout. Wayne had to find immediate alternative accommodations for guests and called local B&Bs who graciously helped out with offering discounts and relocating his guests. Then the job of cleanup was faced. All the linens were disposed of as well as hundreds of books and magazines thrown out. The smoke had permeated just about everything. Washing of walls windows and all surfaces by the restoration crew took place, even repainting certain areas was necessary. Then there was the task of reopening and making sure the deadline of May first was achievable. Wayne said, "We had no choice I had a full calendar of reservations coming in May and June, those are some of our busiest times."
He placed a large order to replace all the bedding and towels and even some mattresses. It all started to come together. The laundry room was totally redone and new heavy duty washers and dryers were installed. The Stonewall Jackson Inn reopened in May first to welcome it's unassuming guests for the season - just like before except this time a little wiser, polished and definitely thankful!
Inn Owner Wayne Engel in restored laundry room four months after fire destroyed this area.