Keith Stocker lost a storage building to fire late Tuesday night.
The flames also reached an exterior wall of the popular Country Market building at Stocker farms.
The following day, his first instinct was gratitude, not a sense of loss.
He knew it could have been a lot worse.
“It touched it but it didn’t take it,” he said. “It has been a part of the fabric of the community. That building was saved by a phenomenal effort by the first responders.”
The fire was first reported by a 911 caller shortly before 10:15 p.m. Tuesday. Someone smelled smoke and went to investigate, said Ron Simmons, chief of Snohomish County Fire District 4.