UPDATE: 6 to 8 cattle have died from Tuesday night's barn fire in Shawano County, according to the Shawano County Sheriff's Office.
Deputies tell NBC 26 this has been reported by the homeowner.
We will continue to update this story as more details are provided by authorities.
ORIGINAL REPORTING: Flames engulfed a barn on a farm in Shawano County on Tuesday night, sending smoke through a grain silo. Firefighters said the barn is a total loss, and that hay and silage were burning steadily.
Officials say they were called to the fire around 5 p.m. It was burning on Swamp Road in the Town of Waukechon, near County Road K.
"Upon arrival, we had a power line across the road, so we had to split our operations up," said Chuck Felts, the assistant chief of the Shawano Area Fire department.
Felts said the hay and silage ignited, and quickly burned the barn, sending smoke through the grain silo. The fire was controlled, but still burning, shortly thereafter.
"The barn is totally gone, so we have the backhoe out there right now, scraping out silage so we can fully extinguish the fire," Felts said.
Felts says the responding departments are working with the farm's owner to make sure all of his cattle are accounted for, but a few hours into the blaze, it was not immediately known if that was the case.
Cold weather — with temperatures in the teens — also made things a bit more difficult for the fire units.
"Right now [on Tuesday evening], the most difficult thing is for the tenders bringing water, as [there's] ice on the roads," Felts said,
The assistant chief would not say for sure that the downed power line caused the fire, but Wisconsin Public Service was on scene Tuesday night to clear the power line.
The parts of Swamp Road near County Road K were closed for several hours.
