FRANKLIN, N.Y. -- Fire destroyed a barn in the town of Franklin, killing 15 to 20 milking cows and up to eight calves and ending more than 100 years of dairy farming, members of the Boning family said Monday.
About 50 firefighters shuttled water in tankers overnight to put out the blaze, officials said, and the cause of the fire at 2313 Blue School Road remains under investigation. The Franklin Fire Department was at the scene for about five hours, then returned twice to further check the rubble.
Renea Halstead Boning said she called 911 after she smelled smoke late Sunday night, looked outside her home and saw an expanding haze. Her husband, Arthur Boning, and a family friend went to the barn to rescue cows, she said.
Delaware County officials said the 911 call came in at 9:55 p.m. Sunday, prompting response by six departments.
Franklin Fire Chief Thomas Worden said he could see an orange glow in the sky as soon as he left his home, which was about six miles from the barn.
"I knew it wasn't going to be good," he said. At least two or three Franklin firefighters went into the barn with Boning to try rescuing the cows, Worden said, but the fire was so advanced that they had only three or four minutes to act.
"You could hear the cows bellowing inside," Worden said. "It was so hot and so fast, we couldn't do a lot. We had to abandon the effort."
About 15 cows were saved, family members said, but others refused to leave the barn.
"That's their home," Halstead Boning said. "They were scared."
Worden said he called a veterinarian, who determined that some surviving cows had burns and took further assessments. A firefighter who went to rescue cows reported that a chain in a stanchion was too hot to handle without getting burned, the chief said.
"We all feel bad about the whole situation with the cows," Worden said. "We hate to see a family situation like that."
Family members said some of the rescued cows suffered from smoke inhalation and were picked up Monday morning to be sold at auction as beef cattle.
The Boning farm has about 15 dry cows and heifers that were in a field across the street, family members said, but the dairy operation won't be rebuilt.
"Life goes on," Halstead Boning said. 'We'll pick up, and we'll go on."
Halstead Boning and her sons, Chris Boning and Ken Halstead, spoke about the impact of the fire during an interview on a hillside Monday afternoon not far from the smoldering barn. Arthur Boning is a third-generation farmer, they said, and he raised his family on the farm, now 340 acres.
The farm has been in the family for more than 100 years, Chris Boning said.
Wayne Johnson of Oneonta was among friends visiting the family Monday afternoon.
"It's definitely a total devastation of a lifestyle," he said.
Renea Halstead Boning nodded. She said the family was grateful for the work of firefighters and the presence of friends.
"The support was immense," she said.
Meanwhile Monday afternoon, smoke rose from charred wood and debris as investigators inspected the site. A silo remained standing.
The fire started in top of the barn on the second floor, Delaware County fire investigator James Olmstead said Monday night in a telephone interview. The building, which had a 40-by-40-foot area and a 40-by-100-foot section, was destroyed, along with some feed and hay, he said.
Olmstead said he will be reviewing photographs he took Monday as he searches for a cause of the fire.
"I've still got some more investigating to do," he said.
Worden said 50 to 55 firefighters were at the scene, with mutual aid to Franklin from the Pindars Corners, Treadwell, Meridale and West Oneonta departments, Worden said. Sidney Center crews were on standby at the Franklin station.
One firefighter had to be treated for an ember in his eye, Worden said, and another was treated for smoke inhalation. Both men were treated by emergency crews at the scene, he said.
Blue School Road is off of Case Hill Road, which is off state Route 28 not far from the intersection of state Route 357.
Worden said five tankers shuttled water from two sites, one at a bridge at Case Hill Road and the other at a pond on the Wallace property. Water was transferred into three portable ponds set up near the fire scene, he said.
Without Sunday's rainfall, the barn fire could have become a brush fire and been a further risk to the Boning house, Worden said. Crews saved the house by positioning themselves between it and the burning barn, he said.
The Franklin Fire Department logged back into service at about 3:30 a.m. but was called out at about 4:15 or 4:30 a.m. when a passerby reported a rekindle, Worden said. Crews spread foam on the barn scene, then repeated the treatment during another visit at about 8:30 a.m.
"It was a pretty short night for everyone," he said.
Copyright 2012 - The Daily Star, Oneonta, N.Y.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
