Club leaders say a fire destroyed every piece of equipment used for course upkeep, but support from neighboring courses and equipment dealers have kept play going.

FREMONT, Ohio — A devastating fire earlier this week that destroyed Fremont Country Club‘s equipment barn and nearly every piece of equipment used to maintain the course could have brought the golf season to a standstill.

Instead, club leaders say an overwhelming response from the golf community helped them get back to work in just days.

The Wednesday night fire destroyed mowers, rollers, sprayers and other maintenance equipment stored inside the barn. Jason Miller, the club’s director of agronomy, estimates the loss at roughly $400,000.

“It’s pretty devastating,” said Miller. “We’ve pretty much lost every piece of equipment we need to run the golf course at the moment.”

Miller believes the fire likely started with an engine fire on a mower that had just been put away for the day. The official cause remains under investigation.

While the building and equipment were destroyed, the course itself was spared.

For Miller and his crew, the challenge quickly shifted from assessing the damage to figuring out how to keep the course playable.

“We show up in the morning and we assess what we have to do that day, and that’s all we can do,” said Miller. “If we try and pretend like we’re going to take all this on, we’ll fail.”

The support began almost immediately.

Jordan Hakim, the club’s head golf professional, said equipment trailers started arriving the very next day.

“It was truly smiling faces and, ‘Hang in there, we’re going to come back,'” said Hakim. “You could see trucks with trailers with different equipment kind of coming in.”

Equipment dealers, neighboring golf courses and superintendents from across Ohio loaned replacement mowers, sprayers and other specialized equipment so maintenance crews could continue caring for the course.

Miller said more than 30 golf course superintendents contacted him the first night after the fire, offering to lend whatever equipment the club still needed.

“I was on the phone until midnight with people,” said Miller. “‘You need anything that doesn’t get filled in, just call me. We’ll bring it to you.'”

Thanks to those efforts, Fremont Country Club was able to reopen quickly as the course was kept in playing condition.

“We love this place, we try to take care of it, it provides back to us,” said Hakim.

Cleanup continues at the site of the burned equipment barn as the club works with its insurance company and begins planning for a replacement building. In the meantime, club officials say the course remains open and playable thanks to the generosity of others in the golf industry.

Fire officials have not said how they think the fire started.