Charlie Daniels’ Barn Burns Down

Charlie Daniels' main barn at his Lebanon, Tenn. ranch has burned to the ground. Neither the country music legend or his wife Hazel were at home when the fire broke out, as they are currently in Durango, Colo. The fire started around 7:30PM last night, and all 11 animals that were in the barn died from the fire.

The barn, on Daniels' Twin Pines Ranch in Wilson County, and all of Daniels' memorabilia inside of it, were completely destroyed. The cause of the fire is not yet known. Daniels has lived on the property since 1979, and it is the same location where some of the George Strait movie 'Pure Country 2' was filmed in 2009.

John Jewel, director of the county's emergency medical and fire rescue service Wilson Emergency Management, was on the scene. Jewel tells Taste of Country: "When we arrived, it was fully involved from one end to the other. All 11 animals in the barn were lost including horses, breed stock and a bull."

"It was a cold night, about 25 degrees, light snow. We responded with three stations and assistance from the city of Lebanon, Tenn. They are 3/4 of a mile off the road, so we hauled about 20,000 gallons of water in -- there are no hydrants in those areas. All the water has to be trucked in. We of course wet the area down but it was a total loss at our time of arrival," Jewel says.

"There was also a tractor inside the barn, plus a pick-up truck, horse trailer, lawn mower and various other items," Jewel adds. "It included an office in the building as well. We estimate the size of the building to be somewhere around 12,000 square feet."

“It’s difficult to know the extent of the dollar loss when breeding stock is involved, so we don’t know that yet," Jewel says.

Daniels was notified of the tragedy by his business manager and other employees on the ranch, some of whom were on scene.