DOOR COUNTY (NBC 26) — Five goats and six pigs died when 75-year-old barn caught fire and burned to the ground Tuesday evening in Door County, fire officials said.
Curt Vandertie, the chief of Brussels-Union-Gardner Fire Department (BUG Fire), said crews were dispatched just before 5 p.m. Tuesday to a barn on Star Road in the town of Brussels. Firefighters found smoke engulfing part of the barn, and smoke pouring from the structure.
First responders and property owners rescued multiple pigs, piglets and chickens from the blaze, but the other goats and pigs died in the fire, according to Chief Vandertie.
Firefighters knocked down the flames within 40 minutes, and later moved parts of the metal roof of the barn with an excavator.
No people were injured, and firefighters left the scene at 9 p.m.
The cause of the fire is under investigation, but the chief noted that it does not appear to be suspicious, and that it may have started in an area of the barn where the owners kept heat lamps for baby goats.
The barn was constructed in 1940 and the owners did not have insurance, according to Chief Vandertie.
The chief also told Door County neighborhood reporter Hanna Lopez at the scene that the barn is a total loss and the nearby home sustained heat damage.
Fire departments from around Door County and beyond, from Sister Bay Liberty Grove to Denmark, assisted on scene, and an excavator from Sturgeon Bay also assisted BUG Fire — which sent 10 units and 29 firefighters — in the response.
