A barn housing dozens of cows was destroyed by a two-alarm fire Tuesday morning and a Maryland state trooper was injured as he tried to help rescue the animals. Ten cows inside the barn died, officials said.
Images: Trooper Injured While Rescuing Cows From FireSky Team 11 Video
Images from SkyTeam 11 showed the barn in flames around 10:30 a.m. The barn is part of the Broom's Bloom Dairy and is located in the 1600 block of Fountain Green Road near Bel Air.
The images showed five men trying to drag a cow out of the burning building while others moved the herd away from the flames. Officials said the barn was engulfed in flames within 15 minutes.
Deputy Fire Marshal Faron Taylor said Cpl. James Kozlowski was off-duty when he drove by, saw the fire and got hurt when he tried to help get the cattle out of the barn. Taylor said Kozlowski was knocked unconscious and sustained a leg and shoulder injury. He was taken to Shock Trauma in Baltimore where he is listed in serious but stable condition.
According to Taylor, the fire killed 10 of the 57 cattle.
Fire marshals determined the fire began inside the barn when the hot exhaust pipe of a front loader came into contact with hay. Fire from the burning hay quickly spread throughout the barn.
Firefighters were able to get the blaze under control within 45 minutes. The fire caused an estimated $700,000 in damage, officials said.
The cattle have since been moved to neighboring farms.
According to the dairy's Web site, Brooms Bloom farm and house dates back to the early 1700s and is supporting its ninth generation of the Dallam family. The farm is named after the colonial land grant for the area.
In 1997, David and Kate Dallam started milking 65 cows on the farm and even more recently they started making and selling old fashioned ice cream, farmstead cheese and pork sausage.
