A four-alarm fire at a Maxatawny Township dairy farm Wednesday destroyed a barn, damaged a silo and killed two cows.
Three firefighters also suffered minor injuries in the blaze at 721 Siegfriedale Road, Kutztown Fire Company Chief Troy Arndt said.
A Topton firefighter was treated at the scene for a cut on his hand, and two Kempton firefighters were taken to Lehigh Valley Hospital near Allentown for possible heat-related injuries, said Doug Demchyk, Kutztown Ambulance assistant chief.
Their names were unavailable. Information on their conditions could not be obtained.
An electrical malfunction caused the fire, Arndt said. He estimated damage at about $110,000.
The property is owned by John and Laura Brubaker, who were not displaced.
The fire destroyed a 100-foot-by-50-foot barn and spread to one of four nearby silos.
"We were very happy that we kept it contained with that," Arndt said.
The Brubaker property borders the Rodale Institute, an agricultural research center, near the Lehigh County line.
Tanker trucks pumped water out of one of Rodale's irrigation ponds and shuttled it to the fire. Fire officials also had to call in a specialist to tackle the silo fire.
Arndt gave this account:
Firefighters were dispatched shortly before 1 p.m.
When Arndt arrived, the barn was engulfed in flames.
The house was also in danger, as well as the silos and two other buildings.
Firefighters extinguished the barn fire, but the fire in the silo posed a challenge.
"They're very difficult," Arndt said. "You can't go inside to fight the fire."
A silo fire specialist from the Rehrersburg area was called to assist. About 100 firefighters from the Kutztown area and surrounding departments also responded.
In 2007, a fire destroyed a farm-equipment storage shed on the same property. Fire officials at the time said John Brubaker was burning a nearby pile of wood and the wind spread flames to the building.
"This one's much worse," Arndt said Wednesday afternoon.
Christine Ziegler Ulsh, a Rodale research agro-ecologist, and April Johnson, who works at the greenhouse and in landscaping, were working Wednesday when they smelled the smoke. They watched the firefighting from Rodale's visitor center, across the road from the Brubaker property.
Ziegler Ulsh and Johnson said they were pleased the fire didn't spread to the nearby house and elsewhere.
The co-workers remembered how the shed destroyed in the last fire was rebuilt quickly.
"In a few weeks, there will be a new barn," Johnson said. "The (Mennonite) community's incredible."
Copyright 2012 - Reading Eagle, Pa.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
