Firefighters saved a Marion Township cattle shed from going up in flames as young cows, sprung loose by neighbors, scurried around them.
A neighbor, who happens to be a firefighter, saw smoke coming from the farm in the 200 block of School Road shortly before 2:30 p.m. Tuesday and alerted Marion Township Fire Company.
Subsequent reports indicated a tractor was on fire, with flames spreading to the heifer shed. The tractor was under the overhang of the L-shaped, Virginia-style shed — a three-sided, open-front structure designed for livestock protection.
Fire Chief Darryl Brubaker happened to be in the Marion station, which is not staffed during the daytime, as with most volunteer companies.
“I promptly hit the road with an engine by myself, figuring there would be others to help out once I got there,” Brubaker said Wednesday.
COURTESY OF JOHN SILESKI
Fire crews at the scene of a fire on a Marion Township heifer farm in the 200 block of School Road on Tuesday. (COURTESY OF JOHN SILESKI)
The tractor, including the tires, was fully aflame, he said. Firefighters got water on the fire within seven minutes of the initial call.
Neighbors freed the heifers — young female cows — from the shed, but chaos briefly ensued.
“They were turning them loose, and they were running around us, but a bunch of neighbors who congregated quickly corralled them,” Brubaker said.
The cattle are raised by the farm for other farmers.
A second alarm was struck to draw additional manpower, if needed.
Brubaker said the tractor, which was old but functional, was a total loss, but the shed was only scorched on the outside.
The cause of the fire was unknown.