Several goats perished in a barn fire over the weekend in Earl Township.
Crews were dispatched at 1:42 a.m. Sunday to the 200 block of Sunset Hill Road after the property owner was awakened by popping sounds and noticed a glow in the valley below his house on the 6-acre property.
Fire Chief William Campfield of Earl Township Fire Company said he arrived from his home within a minute or two of being paged and found the one-story structure fully ablaze.
Campfield said he treated the blaze as a defensive operation because there was no chance of saving the structure. He estimated 10 goats perished, but just as many somehow escaped the blaze on their own.
The chief said he decided against striking a second alarm because he didn’t see a need for an excessive number of firetrucks on narrow, rural roads.
“The building was already gone,” he said. “It fully collapsed within 10 minutes of arrival.”
Campbell requested two additional tankers, which were supplied by Gilbertsville Fire & Rescue just over the Berks line in Montgomery County and Exeter Township Fire Department.
Eastern Berks Fire Department established the fill site at the pond just down the road at Boyertown Rod & Gun Club.
Crews remained at the scene for about five hours to ensure the fire was completely out.
The roughly 30-foot-by-50-foot building was formerly used to raise pigs, the chief said. The goats occupied only a portion of the building, with the remainder used to house lawn equipment and tools, all of which were destroyed.
A state police fire marshal investigated, but so much of the structure was destroyed that a point of origin could not be found, Campfield said.
However, all indications are that it was an accidental fire, the chief said.
Source: Berkshire mont