Fire destroys Red Barn at King Estate Winery

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By Jonathan Simmons and Laura Rillos KVAL News and KVAL.com staff

LORANE, Ore. -- Tractor operators working in the vineyards spotted a fire in a building at King Estate Winery early Thursday morning.

The blaze destroyed the south wing of the 7,000-square foot building known as The Red Barn (pictured below), home to the winery's housekeeping and shipping and receiving departments.

No one was hurt in the fire.

The fire broke out around 2 a.m. Thursday morning at King Estate Winery, located about 25 miles south of Eugene.

"When we got here, it was so badly consumed inside, it had been burning for a while," said Tom Soward, with the Lorane Rural Fire Protection District.

A King Estate spokesman said Thursday morning that regular business activities will not be interrupted by the fire and that the main winery building was not in jeopardy and sustained no damage.

"We're just extremely gratetful no one was injured and the damage wasn't worse than it was," said Sasha Kadey, with King Estate.

Firefighter said an underground propane tank was feeding the flames. Firefighters quickly shut off the tank.

The shed and some wine processing equipment were lost in the fire, according to firefighters. Firefighters successfully protected a trailer at one end of the building.

There was wine stored in the north wing of the building, which did not sustain serious damage, according to a King Estate spokesman.

Firefighters said they ran into problems with the water supply and were forced to shuttle water more than 15 miles from Veneta to put out the fire.

"It took a lot of water to do it and you have to move that because we don't have hydrants out here," said Soward.

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