WRIGHTSVILLE, Ga. — On July 4, 2019, a simple idea in a small town made a splash across the state.
William Sumner's MidWay Straw Company in Wrightsville supersized their Independence Day celebration and caught the eyes of thousands on Facebook.
He and his crew painted a giant American flag mural on hay bales. A photo of the finished product racked up thousands of likes and shares on Facebook.
"I said, 'Y'all wanna let's paint something on the end of the barn down there?' and they said, 'Well yeah, you get the paint and we'll do it,'" he said at the time.
Nine months later, Sumner's hay became fuel.
A fire broke out early Wednesday morning and took hours to control, according to Wrightsville Fire Chief Shawn Wombles.
"Lord help us," said Sumner. "With the amount of inventory and the fire hazard that we have... that is absolutely the worst thing you can have in the hay and the straw business."
The fire destroyed the farm's baling center and took about $350,000 worth of equipment up in smoke with it, he said.
Its cause is still undetermined, said Wombles.
The barn where last year's flag was painted was unaffected. Sumner said that was due to the dozens of volunteer firefighters who responded.
Wombles said at one point, 55 volunteer firefighters were on scene battling the blaze, fighting to keep it from spreading to other hay barns that could be a "fuelbox" for the flames.
It took six hours, but their work paid off. Wombles says the fire was contained to the original barn and nobody was injured.
"We're all one big family in Johnson County," said Sumner.
So what do you do if you're a straw farmer in Wrightsville who just lost a barn?
For Sumner, the answer is easy.
"We're definitely going to rebuild," he said. And fast.
"Hopefully we'll be back up and running in a week," said Sumner. "The insurance company is wanting to get us up and running as bad as I am."
And you make sure, come the Fourth of July, that your hay is painted again.
"Absolutely, yes sir," he said. "I think we're gonna have to. I think I'll probably get run out of the county and the state if we don't."
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