Massive fire levels barn in Fulton County - 13abc.com Toledo (OH) News, Weather and Sports

A massive fire levels a barn in Fulton County. It happened along county road 5-2 just outside Delta Friday morning. Crews from a half dozen departments were called in to fight the flames. The barn is part of Jack Simon's farm. He is the Assistant Chief of the Delta Fire Department.

The smoke could be seen from miles away, and it quickly burned the barn to the ground killing several animals.  The fire destroyed the barn in a matter of minutes. Katy Simon was home when the fire started, " Basically all that's left are the beams, the big beams that were the main support for the barn."

Katy says people could see the fire from miles away, "The flames were so hot that I was standing in the road and I could feel the heat."

Flames made quick work of the barn that had been standing for more than a century, "With it being an old barn with dry hay and straw in it was on the ground in five to ten minutes."

In addition to farm equipment, the Simon's kept a number of animals in the barn. Amazingly they were able to get most of them out, "I got my two horses out 3 steers and two rabbits we got one pig out, but we lost another pig and a goat that I had in the barn."

There are no hydrants in the area so a number of departments shuttled water in by tanker. Chad Smith is the Swanton Chief, "The flames build quickly in a barn loaded with hay and straw on the second floor the go up quick and they are very hot and actually the barn across the street caught fire too from the wind carrying sparks so we had multiple scenes today."

According to the Simon family the fire started in the part of the barn where hay and straw were stored, "It's packed tight and if it is not 100 percent dry it can spark a fire like spontaneous combustion. What we had in there was dry but with the heat and no rain it's a freak accident that it started."

The animals that were saved are all staying with a neighbor right now. No one was hurt fighting the fire. No final word on a cause yet or the amount of damage. The Simon family does plan to rebuild the barn.

Firefighters from six different departments helped battle the flames. Many of them were on the scene for several hours.