Fire destroys family business

By Staff
Kim West
EAST FRANKLIN – On a typical Thursday morning, Johnny Smith and his son, Darryl Smith, are hard at work crafting wooden parts and furniture inside Smith Turning Company, a turning lathe shop in the Newburg community.
But yesterday both men spent the morning clearing out charred rubble after lightning struck at 5 p.m. Wednesday and started a fire that destroyed the unoccupied shop and was still burning and pluming smoke at noon Thursday in the southwest end of the 90-foot building, which is located directly across from New Hope United Methodist Church and next to Liberty Church on Hwy. 81.
"I think it was probably hit by lightning," said Johnny Smith, who lives near the family-owned business.
"It happened about 5 p.m., and that's when I got here. The fire was burning all overhead and all four corners of the building, and the firefighters worked on it for three or four hours."
A heavy storm passed through Franklin County Wednesday evening, but didn't cause any other reports of severe damage, according to the county's Emergency Management Agency.
"We were not under any kind of watch or warning at that time," EMA assistant Carol Frederick said. "Sometimes these pop up storms can do that. There were some power outages reported."
Russellville resident Turner Joe Taylor, a longtime customer of Smith Turning Company, said he found out about the fire as he was driving by Thursday morning.
"I've known the Smith family for a long time, and they're sweet people," Taylor said.
"I've been doing business with them a long time, and I didn't know about the fire until I came up the road (Thursday) and saw the smoke. Nobody was hurt, thank God."
Johnny Smith said there are no plans to rebuild the shop, which has been in business for 15 years.
"I'm going to clean it up, but that's it," said Smith, whose antique 1949 Willis Jeep roadster ragtop was also heavily damaged by the fire.
"It's all over with – there's no way I can rebuild."
The fire attracted a steady stream of visitors Thursday morning as friends and members of the community stopped by the check on the Smiths and offer their help.
"There's been about 200 to 300 people who have stopped by today," Smith said.
"They've been awfully nice, but there's nothing anybody can do.
"It's just one of those things that happens because nothing lasts forever, except for death."