VIDEO: Valley barbecue business loses catering equipment after garage burns down in Braceville Township
The owner of a Valley barbecue business lost all of his catering equipment following a garage fire on Tuesday morning.
Guy's BBQ owner Guy Hughes tells 21 News all of his catering equipment burned down in a garage fire at his West Oakland Street home.
According to call logs from Trumbull County dispatchers, the fire was first reported around 9:45 Tuesday morning in a detached garage.
Our 21 News crew at the scene saw yellow tape around the burned shed, equipment, and Guy's BBQ vehicle.
"This is my workshop," Hughes explained to 21 News. "So, I have tools and everything else in there. Who plans for something like this? I am just baffled at what would have caused this."
Hughes said he and his wife left their property around 9 a.m. and 911 calls were made around 9:40 a.m.
Multiple fire departments responded to the blaze — including Braceville, Newton Falls, Windham, and Southington — but the garage and its contents were a total loss, including a catering trailer beside the garage.
"We had limited manpower on a Tuesday at 9:40 in the morning," Chief Garland explained. "I only had four people and luckily Newton Falls cleared a call to come over to help us along with quite a few other crews."
Hughes told 21 News that he had no idea what had caused the fire, and the Braceville Township Fire Chief Todd Garland said he believed the loss to be in the hundreds of thousands.
"Guy's BBQ has been in business for a long time," Chief Garland told 21 News. "The fire was fuel-fed. The propane tanks increased the flames of the fire and made it more rapid. We went through the one side door and within a minute, a roof collapsed. It was fast. This much loss for a small business is devastating."
The Ohio State Fire Marshal and the Trumbull County Fire Investigation Unit are investigating the fire. No one was at the location at the time of the fire and no injuries were reported.
"We got a big loss here but we're going to build it bigger and better," Hughes told 21 News. "I'm not going to let this stop me. I've been doing this for 40 years. I'm not going to let one day destroy me. I have a lot of support from my family and friends. We're going to be okay."
Hughes had a wedding scheduled for this Saturday, September 28 along with a handful of catering events in the coming weeks.
Guy's Award-Winning BBQ Sauce sells its barbeque sauces around the U.S. and Canada.