A barn used for arts and crafts owned by a Somerville couple was gutted by intense fire after being struck by lightning last Wednesday afternoon. The three-story structure, located down a long, dirt drive off the Crummett Mountain Rd. in Somerville, was already fully involved when firefighters arrived at the scene shortly after 2 p.m. Aug. 5, according to Somerville Fire Chief Mike Dostie.
Dostie said the owners, Sue and Roy Kinney, had just left the building to go to their house next door. Relaying statements from the couple, Dostie said they didn’t see the lighting strike, but heard it. They told him they thought the lighting hit their house, but when they looked outside, the couple noticed smoke coming from the roof of the barn. They had been using the barn for crafts, artwork and storage for antiques.
The fire spread quickly after the lighting strike. The Kinneys had a difficult time calling emergency 911, because their house phone wasn’t working. Dostie said they used their cell phone, which had poor reception, to call a friend, who then called 911 at approximately 2:15 p.m.
The Somerville Fire Chief said firefighters could not go inside the structure, because of the intense heat. Windows covering most of the building’s front section had blown out and flames were shooting out through the openings.
Firefighters found light bulbs blasted out of their sockets 30-40 feet away from the building, their glass melted.
“It was quite a situation,” Dostie said. “There were many explosions.”
The building had acetylene, propane, diesel and K-1 fuel tanks inside, some of which were full. According to Dostie, there were 300 gallons of diesel fuel and 275 gallons of K-1, plus five propane tanks that exploded.
“That’s what made the fire so hot,” he said. “You just couldn’t get close enough to it.”
Traveler’s Pond off Rt. 17 was the nearest water source for the responding fire departments. The Whitefield Fire Dept. was the first on scene with a tank truck, followed by Jefferson Fire and Rescue with an engine and 3500 gallon tanker to fight the blaze.
The Whitefield Fire Dept. laid a hose down in the dirt drive, which was long and narrow, from the road. Dostie said this helped save time and effort for the other fire departments.
The Somerville Fire Dept. arrived on scene, followed by departments from Washington and Windsor. Dostie said fire department crews rotated and filled tank trucks from Traveler’s Pond as the water supply drained in the fire fighting effort.
The only injury was a sprained ankle, sustained by a firefighter as he was scrambling up a wet, grassy knoll.
Dostie commended the fire departments of Whitefield, Jefferson and Windsor and a Delta ambulance crew who assisted with rehabilitation. He said the situation was so hot, emergency crews were concerned about heat exhaustion.
The Somerville Fire Chief said they couldn’t send anyone inside the building, as the three floors inside had collapsed. The exterior of the structure, however, remained upright. Fire departments were able to contain the fire within a couple of hours, the Dostie said, and had to use foam toward the end to get the rest of the fire out.
“As hot as it was, it could have been a lot worse,” Dostie said. “Thank God for mutual aid.”
He said emergency medical service personnel made sure firefighters avoided injury and kept tabs on signs of heat exhaustion. Dostie said the Somerville Ladies Auxiliary went through six cases of water and fed firefighters before leaving. They started releasing fire departments at around 5 p.m. that day.
