WOODSTOCK – The studio of potter Monica Mann was damaged by fire early Wednesday morning, Mann said by telephone.

A neighbor to Mann’s home on Road Less Traveled reported the fire after smelling burning plastic, Mann said. According to Mann, an overheated electrical panel near her kiln was the source of the fire.

“I believe it was electrical in nature,” Woodstock fire Chief Geffrey Inman later confirmed.

Inman said the damage from the fire was moderate and that volunteers used about 400 gallons of water on the fire, trying to avoid damaging Mann’s kiln with it. Crews were called out just before midnight, Inman said.

“There wasn’t that big of a fire,” Inman said. “We tried to protect all of her things that we could. We used a minimal amount of water.”

Mann, who does not sell her work from home, was getting product ready for the Common Ground Fair in Unity set for later this month.

“He was careful to tell the guys not to hose down my kiln,” Mann said of the firefighters’ work. She said the cold water would have caused the hot kiln to crack.

Mann said most of her finished product was in her house and not in the studio, which is not attached to the home.

“Another pottery buddy is going to let me use her kiln,” Mann said.

Mann said she’s hoping to make it through the holiday season with help from others; hunker down in winter and start repairing her studio in spring.

Mann said she wasn’t sure whether her studio was covered by her insurance.

“Life is always hurling lemons,” Mann said, adding she’s become good at making lemonade.

Staff writers M. Dirk Langeveld and Kathryn Skelton contributed to this report.