Historic Wells Family Farm damaged by fire in 2nd barn blaze within 6 months, police say

A fire at the Wells Family Farm engulfed a barn on Monday afternoon, months after a separate blaze at the historic Riverhead farm last fall left dozens of animals dead, police said.

The Riverhead Police Department arrived at the 300-acre farm on Sound Avenue around 1:11 p.m. to find the structure inundated with flames, Riverhead police said in a statement. Fire officials then evacuated animals from the barn and contained the fire within about two hours.

An investigation into the fire is ongoing, but police don’t currently consider it to be suspicious, they said. Agencies that responded to the fire include the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s Spill Response team and the Riverhead Town Fire Marshall.

Monday’s fire came months after a November blaze at the historic farm destroyed two barns and left another one damaged. Four pigs and more than a dozen chickens died in the fire, while the family saved roughly 20 pigs.

The damaged barns had housed several items, including grain feed, machinery, and a diesel fuel tank. It’s unclear to Newsday which barn on the farm was part of Monday’s fire.

"It was the heart of our operation," Eric Wells Sr. had told Newsday after the November fire. "It's where we worked and did everything for our business and repaired machinery. ”

The Wells family is believed to be one of the oldest continuously farming families in New York State. It has farmed land in Riverhead for 12 generations, growing potatoes and grain for wholesalers and selling livestock. 

With Newsday’s John Asbury and Nicholas Grasso

By Tiffany Cusaac-Smith

tiffany.cusaac-smith@newsday.com@T_Cusaac

Tiffany Cusaac-Smith is a general assignment reporter for Newsday. She previously worked at USA TODAY and is an alum of Howard University.