Lessons Learned from a Barn Fire

When we first purchased our property, I instantly fell in love with the quaint, antique three-sided "barn." The aged full-dimensional barnwood, the fading red paint, and the notches and scars of past generations of residents made the barn extra-special in my eyes.

The builders of the barn had strategically placed it so that it faced away from our typical northwesterly winds and provided a warm shelter for the lives within. The attention to detail and craftsmanship spoke of a time when men cared about the quality of their work and everything was built to last. And it lasted through countless winters, springs, summers, and falls. In the nine years we have lived here, the barn provided a safe haven for many birthings, both goat and swine, and nurtured the lives within.

All of the goats and the horse enjoying a warm spring day - four days before the fire. Photo Credit: Summers End Farm

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Unfortunately, it only takes one small mistake, one small fluke of an accident, for tragedy to strike. It was a snowy Friday afternoon and the temperature hovered around 32 degrees. The field was flooded and I opted to keep my younger kids and their mother, Poinsettia, locked in the first barn stall which we had converted to an enclosed pen for this purpose. Unbeknownst to me, J had also locked in an older kid, a newly purchased Mini-Nubian, and a young buckling to keep them out of the snowy muck. In the third stall, our KuneKune sow and her four piglets rested peacefully. Both stalls were equipped with heat lamps which were safely secured both vertically and horizontally to prevent them from moving in any way. Dan and I had installed them together and gauged them to be sufficiently safe. We were nervous about the extension cords needed to run electricity from the garage to the barn so we purchased heavy-duty options - seemingly sufficient to carry the load of two 50W heat lamps. We also purchased a heavy-duty triple outlet extension cord to run both heat lamps. We then zip-tied the cords to the barn structural beams to keep them from flammable hay and straw. This would prove to be the weak link.

In the week leading up to this day, we had experienced several hours of power outages followed by strong power surges that burned the surge protector for our TV, fried the electrical components of our neighbor's range, and burst lightbulbs at another neighbor's home. In hindsight, we should have checked the triple outlet extension in the barn but we didn't. Instead, we checked all of the outlets in the house, replaced the surge protector, and moved on with our lives.

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On Friday evening, J walked out to the barn around 5:45 to start his chores. He grabbed the bucket he uses to feed the sow and her piglets, peeked over the divider to check on Poinsettia and her kids, and headed to the garage. He came inside for water, soaked his pig food for about 15 minutes, and headed back out. Dan, A, and I were sitting on the floor of the living room, done with chores and playing with legos. Suddenly, the back door flew open and J was in the doorway gasping, "Fire! Fire! The barn's on fire," while our brains lagged, trying to grasp the enormity of the word. I stared at him stupidly and asked, "Did you let the goats out?" still unaware of the severity of the word. "Too late!" he screamed as he ran out the door.

Dan is a firefighter, he understands the enormity and severity of the word and he was gone before I was even off the floor. Smoke rose above the garage and when A and I walked around the corner of the garage, I too realized the severity of the situation.

Lesson 1: Fire moves much more quickly than you can possibly imagine.

Freeze, flight, or fight are among the normal responses of humans when confronted with an emergency situation and our family apparently belongs to the fight category. We kicked into high gear, unrolling hoses, turning on water, and carrying buckets from the pond. J called our neighbors and let them know. I called 911 and calmly requested assistance, informing them that my firefighter husband was on it but we would probably need assistance getting the fire out. From the time I called 911 to the time our volunteer fire department arrived, less than ten minutes had elapsed.

Dan had been hitting the head of the fire with the hose, trying to knock it down and keep it from spreading, but a garden hose is not sufficient to stop a growing fire. When we first ran to the barn, only the first stall was consumed, but by the time the volunteer fire department arrived, the second stall was mostly gone.

Lesson 2: There is nothing more comforting than your friends and neighbors climbing out of a fire engine to help you.

I cannot thank our volunteer fire department enough for their professional, prompt response to our emergency. Seeing those familiar faces working together to assist our family was nothing short of awe-inspiring. Within minutes they had the fire knocked down and were spraying the remains with fire retardant. Cal-Fire arrived approximately ten minutes after the volunteer fire department and probed the fire for heat spots, checked the heat signature, and provided further assistance.

There was no judgment, no scorn, just neighbors helping neighbors. I am forever grateful that we have the amazing volunteer fire department that we do and for our local Cal-Fire station.

Lesson 3: Friends that can be counted on are priceless.

One of the benefits of living in a small community is that everyone knows what's going on and they are ready to help. Within minutes of the call going out on the scanner, multiple friends texted or called, asking if we were okay and if they could help. The outpouring of care was just what was needed in that moment.

The neighbors that J had called showed up to help and stayed for over two hours, helping us move animals, mend fences for new pens, and provide love and care. They even brought us straw and hay for the new pen. A neighbor from across the highway brought us more hay and refused payment. My lifelong friend, Whitney at Mitchell Family Farm, also showed up and helped us move animals and fix pens, she even took our shared buck home with her so we could utilize his pen for other animals.

Lesson 4: Fires are devastating, powerful forces.

When we woke up the next day, with the smoke settled, we were forced to face the grim truth that fires are devastating and powerful and leave little behind. Our once majestic barn was reduced to half of its former glory.

Charred remains of full-dimensional antique timbers testified to the walls that once sheltered animals. Remains of fencing, roofing, and other various items were strewn across the floor of the two stalls. Up until this point, we hadn't been entirely sure if the fire had been started by the heat lamp or by an electrical short but looking at the straw remaining on the floor of the stall, it became apparent that it must have started on the Western wall of the barn where the electrical extension cord had been secured. We can only surmise that it had been damaged during the earlier power surges and finally melted enough to catch the barn wall on fire. In less than 15 minutes, some small spark had fully engulfed the entire wall and by the time 30 minutes had passed, half the barn was gone.

Dan and J buried the deceased animals, cleaned all of the detritus from the stall, and knocked down the remaining timbers. Over the next several months, they will rebuild and improve the two lost stalls. While the loss of our barn and animals was overwhelming, the support and friendship shown by our neighbors is a silver-lining. With time, we will be able to add an additional stall, pour a concrete slab, and provide a safer structure for our animals all while honoring the craftsmanship of the past.