Citrus County honeybee farm suffers $1M in fire damage

CITRUS COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) — A fire on Sunday has resulted in nearly $1 million in damages for a local honey farm owned by Sarah Foti, who inherited the business from her late father. The blaze destroyed the processing facilities, leaving only the sound of bees behind. "Farmers face many challenges, and losing an entire crop is devastating," Foti remarked.

Foti expressed her heartbreak as the fire consumed their livelihood in just eight minutes. She suspects a space heater in the barn may have ignited the flames, which took fire crews nearly 10 hours to control. "The equipment we lost took years to accumulate," she noted, while a neighbor's alert allowed her to save some work vehicles, though a cherished item from her father was lost.