BARNEVELD — A fundraiser has been set up for the owner of a family welding business in Barneveld that lost his shop to a fire Tuesday night, June 11.

No one was injured in the fire at Cox’s Welding, 110 E. Orbison St., but the building collapsed. Firefighters responded from a dozen neighboring communities, including Blanchardville. The cause of the fire was undetermined, but possibly lightening or electrical.

The welding shop was built in 1990 by Fantus Cox and his son, now business owner, Randy Cox. The family has started a GoFundMe fundraising page that can be found by searching “Family Business Destroyed in Fire” on the GoFundMe website.

“We find ourselves standing here, the day after, looking at our destroyed building. My family and I feel helpless as we watch the backhoe grab piles of sheet metal, roofing, destroyed tools and so much more,” family member Cori Lease wrote on the GoFundMe page. With the “building collapsed, equipment destroyed and a farm at home to run, what comes next is not going to be easy for Randy.”