Pleasant View Farms was hit with tragedy at 4 a.m. Thursday, as the dairy farm’s offices and part of the milking parlor burned down.

Owner Gretchen Metzler said the cause of the blaze is unknown, but the Martinsburg Fire Department is investigating.

The damage to the milking parlor caused the farm to move more than 1,300 cows to nearby farms, where they will be milked until the parlor is back up and running.

Metzler said different farmers around the Martinsburg region came out almost immediately with transport vehicles to move the cows, an effort for which she is grateful.

Volunteers take a break from clearing the charred remains of the Pleasant View Farms’ office building and part of its milking parlor after a fire early Thursday morning. Mirror photo by Nate Powles

All the Pleasant View cows got milked Thursday morning, she said.

“Thanks to community farmers, our cows are distributed across 18 locations,” Metzler said.

The barn housing the cows is located next to the offices and milking parlor and Metzler said it is a miracle that no cows were killed or even injured.

Metzler’s son, Marshall, said the wind was calm Thursday morning, so even though the buildings are all close together, the fire did not spread to the animal barns. He said the fire company kept the blaze contained, putting out the flames in about an hour. Marshall said the priority now is clearing the rubble and making sure the milking parlor is back up and running as soon as possible.

“We need to get the parlor cleared,” he said.

The farm is insured, the Metzlers said.

On Thursday, dozens of local residents, family members and friends descended on the farm to help clear the wreckage left behind.

While the office building was a total loss, firefighters were able to save about half of the milking parlor.

Gretchen Metzler said the farm was only about a half hour out from starting to milk the cows when the fire started, so the timing — if there is any good timing for something like this — was very fortunate to avoid any casualties.

Multiple fire companies turned out to fight the fire and provide as much water as possible, since the farm is somewhat secluded. Metzler said tankers and engines were lined “clear up the lane” to the farm, funneling thousands of gallons of water to the fire.

Among those assisting were Geeseytown, Six Mile Run, Martinsburg, Friendship, Southern Cove, Williamsburg and Saxton.

Founded in 1898, Pleasant View had been passed down through several generations before coming to Gretchen Metzler, her children and grandchildren.

Metzler said no one was injured in the blaze.

“This is a devastating loss, but we still have our family,” she said.

Mirror Staff Writer Nate Powles is at 814-946-7466.