United States (Pennsylvania) - Firefighters from Bradford County and New York were kept busy for over 15 hours on Monday working at extinguishing a barn fire in East Smithfield. According to East Smithfield Fire Chief Larry Nichols, the fire broke out around 11:40 p.m. on Sunday, in a barn on Nichols Road owned by Martin and Jackie Kingsley. In addition to East Smithfield, departments from Ridgebury, Ulster, Athens Township, Athens Borough, Chemung, N.Y., Wellsburg, N.Y., Troy, Towanda, and Wysox were also called to the scene. Nichols estimated that about 75 firefighters fought the blaze, which destroyed the upper section of the barn.

Nichols said that five trucks were used at the scene, plus a number of tankers, as well as the ladder truck from Athens Borough. The chief said that no injuries occurred during the fire, and all the cows which had been stored in the barn were safely removed from the premises.

The chief said they were able to save the lower milking section of the barn, although two sections of flooring fell in on it during the fire. Nichols said he was glad of that, because usually when a barn catches fire it burns to the ground.

The reason why it took so long to put the fire out, the chief continued, was because of the amount of hay stored in the barn. Nichols said they removed 7,000 square hay bales from the structure with two excavators -- one supplied by Spencer Rental, and the other by Leonard Excavating.

"If we had let it burn it would have gone down to the first floor, and then you would have lost everything," the chief said.

In addition, a number of round hay bales stored outside the barn also caught fire due to sparks from the structure, Nichols explained.

Removing the square hay bales from the second floor of the barn was the hardest part of fighting the fire, Nichols said.

Firefighters were finishing up as of 3:30 p.m. on Monday, with rubble being removed from the scene. The chief said they were also able to save a storage tank which was full of milk.

Nichols said the structure is insured. He also reported that the cause of the fire is unknown as this time, and the state police fire marshal will be investigating the scene.

Also assisting at the fire were ambulances from Tri-Township, Smithfield, and Ridgebury.

Written by The Daily Review