Hog Barn near Hamlet Burns for Unknown Reason
Published: Friday, November 13, 2026
A barn large enough to house up to 4,000 hogs was destroyed by fire Sunday night in LaPorte County.
Fortunately, the roughly 400 foot long by 80 foot wide structure was empty because the hogs previously inside it had been delivered for slaughter in recent weeks, said Todd Lawrence, owner of TJL Family Farms LLC.
He owns and operates, with help from his son, the farm started by his parents in 1959.
Lawrence said he was about to have the barn power washed before receiving his next load of 4,000 hogs.
He's already contacted his insurance company about covering the loss along with a builder to replace the barn at the Johnson Twp. site, just a quarter mile from the Starke County line.
"We already got the ball rolling," he said.
Hamlet Fire Chief Brad Hazelton said the barn was fully engulfed in flames when firefighters about 6 p.m. began arriving at 11745 S. C.R. 700 East.
He said firefighters from Knox, Koontz Lake, Walkerton, Polk Twp. and Liberty Twp. assisted with manpower and shuttling water to the burning structure in tanker trucks.
Hazelton said firefighters were there for about five hours.
There were no injuries.
The cause of the fire, so far, was not known, he said.
Lawrence said he was harvesting corn when a neighbor reported the fire.
He doubts if a cause of the fire will ever be known since the damage was so extensive and required a backhoe to tear down what was left of the fire ravaged barn to put out the remainder of the flames.
Lawrence has five other similar-sized barns at three other locations in the area for raising hogs received as babies from Keystone Co-Alliance, the feed and livestock division of Keystone Cooperative.
He returns the hogs to Keystone Co-Alliance for slaughter once raising them to finish.
Hazelton said the next load of hogs he was supposed to receive from Keystone Co-Alliance will have to go to another farm since he doesn't have the space to accept them in his other barns.
Other than that, it's appears to be business as usual for the most part.
"It's probably going to be an inconvenience. Sure. It always is when you have a routine down," he said.
His parents, Clarence and Peggy, started the farm by purchasing 240 acres of ground.
The farm has since grown to roughly 6,000 acres with seed corn and commercial corn grown on about 4,000 of the acres.
The rest of the land is used for raising soybeans and mint.
Clarence Lawrence retired as general manager of the Starke County Farm Bureau Cooperative, where he was employed for about 40 years.
He passed away in 1999 while his wife, Peggy, a retired school teacher, died this past July.
Lawrence credited his parents for taking a risk when they bought the farm, which paved the way for him to have a successful career in agriculture.
"That's what they did and we built it from there. Without them, I wouldn't be where I am in life today," he said.
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