Cat Tree Kingdom still building

The four-car garage at 5413 Highway 14 burned to the ground April 27. Cat Tree Kingdom had its workshop inside the garage.

Jeff and Jody Minear were enjoying their 10th anniversary on April 27 when a fire destroyed the four-car garage at their home on 5413 Highway 14.

“I was flying a stunt kite in the backyard and heard a boom,” Jeff Minear said. “I turned around and saw fire.”

Jody Minear was in the house at the time the fire started. There were no vehicles in the garage because it housed the workshop of their business, Cat Tree Kingdom.

Jeff Minear called the HFPD and by the time they were in place, the garage was a blaze.

“We lost everything — all our tools, carpet and supplies,” Jeff Minear said.

The business is fully insured and the items will be replaced.

Minear had some extra tools on site and is working in a room off his kitchen. He also is using part of the basement which is occupied by Tom Nixon, who uses the space to build bird trees.

“We had doubles and triples of several of the tools and Tom is sharing his tools with us,” Minear said.

The weekend of the fire, Minear spent a day using a Bobcat to clean up the building. He filled three dumpsters with debris and said they lost approximately three days of work because of the fire.

“We haven’t stopped,” Minear said. “We went and got more supplies and kept going because we have orders to fill.”

The garage was originally a two-bay and was built around 1915 according to Minear. Additional bays were added later. Minear said the new garage should be in place soon but believes the property owner will replace it with a two to two-and-one-half bay garage. The Minears recently made the first post-fire delivery and want to assure everyone they are still in business.

“Jodi and I made our first delivery since the fire the other day and on our way home stopped and got more supplies,” Jeff Minear said. “We’re still in business and we should be back out in the shop soon.”