Fire Destroys Historic Barn on GM Property

A barn more than 100-years old on the sprawling General Motors property in Spring Hill burned down Thursday morning in a fire of unknown origin. No one was hurt.

The fire, which began at 1 a.m., destroyed all of the barn, 200,000 pounds of road salt, farming equipment and other building materials stored inside. The contents of the barn belonged to Voith, a GM subcontractor that helps maintain the 2,400-acre property, according to the Maury County Sheriff’s Office.

Columbia Fire and Rescue responded first, followed by Spring Hill then Maury and Williamson Counties. The extra help was needed, in part, because there was no nearby fire hydrant.

“It was totally unsalvagable, with fire on all four corners when we arrived,” Terry Hood, Spring Hill Fire Chief, said. “We had to go down to 31 to get water.”

Two 3,000 gallon Maury and two 2,000 gallon Williamson water trucks ran a continuous relay filling up and bringing water to the fire,  putting it out and securing the area by mid-morning.