Crossroads Lawn and Garden reopens after Thanksgiving fire

New lawn equipment stands on display Monday at Crossroads Lawn and Garden in Fairdealing. The new facility, still under construction is open for business after fire destroyed the service department and caused significant damage to the showroom and office space of the business’ existing building on Thanksgiving morning. Construction efforts on the new facility, initially scheduled to open Dec. 15, were ramped up to provide some services Monday morning.

Thanksgiving has proven to hold both amazing and terrible things for the Boyan family.

The family began building its business on Thanksgiving in 2013 at the junction of U.S. Highway 68 and Ky. 408 in Fairdealing before it opened in April of the following year. Then, on Thanksgiving 2016 the Boyans began building a new facility on the property to expand operations. That growth was almost halted this Thanksgiving, however, when fire broke out in the service department of the original building that morning.

Still, the Boyan family – owners of Crossroads Lawn and Garden, a local outdoor power equipment sales and service center – said while the situation wasn’t ideal, it was far from complete tragedy.

“There’s so many ways it could have been worse,” said Richard Boyan, Crossroads staffer and father to owner Ian Boyan. “Probably the least fortunate thing about everything was our cat. … Cubby was, she was in the back, and she got her way all the way to the front, but she (didn’t make it). She wasn’t burned, just smoke inhalation. To us, that was the worst part.”

No other injuries were reported, however, and damage was limited to the existing facility which housed the service department and showroom. It was a success Ian Boyan attributed to local fire fighters. Crews from South Marshall, Fairdealing-Olive, East Marshall and Benton fire departments responded to the call quickly, leaving their own families at 10 a.m. Thursday to contain the blaze.

“We want to thank all the fire fighters,” Ian Boyan said. “There was four departments here. … And then all the friends and customers and neighbors that came out to try and help us out. … They just kept coming and coming.”

Although construction efforts on the new building – about twice the size of the damaged building at 7,500 square feet – were not scheduled to be complete until about mid December, community members and Crossroads staff had all stepped in to expedite work on the facility. Similarly, Ian Boyan said local utilities had come to connect services and systems quickly, allowing the business to operate at least in a limited capacity in the new building. Crossroads opened doors on the incomplete facility at 8 a.m. Monday.

“There’s a total of 10 of us here,” Ian Boyan said of his staff. The Boyans have put those employees to work on assisting with construction while the company returns to full operations. “We sure don’t want to lay anybody off. It won’t happen.”

Richard Boyan said the business would maintain regular business hours, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. to noon Saturday moving forward. Equipment servicing was expected to resume by the middle of the week, Richard said, and pickup and delivery were expected to resume early this week, as well.

The facility will be completed by it’s original target date of Dec. 15, at which time Crossroads will host an open house.

As of Monday, the family had no total estimate on lost inventory or customer equipment housed in the service department during the fire.

“We had a lot of smoke,” Richard Boyan said. “Pretty much all of the shop was destroyed, and there was smoke damage in the office area, and smoke damage in the rear storage area. Insulation melted down on some of the stuff and the equipment.”

Insurance adjusters were scheduled to visit the site later in the day. The focus now is moving forward.

“No matter what … we’re going to take care of our customers,” Richard Boyan said. “If they had equipment that was in the fire, (we can) reassure them that everything is going to be taken care of. We’re totally insured; we’ll communicate with them as soon as possible. We’re actually in the process, we got most everyone notified today.”

The Boyans intend to rebuild the damaged facility.

State fire marshals had not determined the cause of the fire as of Monday.