Xenia Twp. family assessing after fire destroys 150-year-old barn

Credit: DaytonDailyNews

A Xenia Twp. family is cleaning up and assessing damages left by a fire that destroyed farm equipment, hay and a century-old barn on Saturday.

Videos captured by a surveillance camera and a passing motorist shows the barn at Berryhill Farm on East Krepps Road engulfed in flames and black smoke filling the sky above the property.

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On Monday, the Sutton family was taking inventory to determine what all was lost in the fire. The estimated 150-year-old structure was reduced to a pile of rubble and still smoldering.

No person or animal was injured, but the cause of the blaze was not immediately determined, officials said.

Property owner Rene Sutton said no livestock lived in the barn, but several tractors and mowers, chainsaws and other items were lost.

“We were unaware of what was going on,” Sutton said. “The wood was very dry.”

The surveillance camera captured video of one of the family’s pet dogs cowering and running for cover as the intense flames quickly spread through the entire structure.

Despite the rain that fell on Saturday, the heat from the flames melted the siding on the family’s house.

Sutton said the farm is a family business and they lost 200 bails of hay — material that is important to their operations.

“It doesn’t sound like much, but it’s a big loss because we use them to mulch our blueberries,” she said.

It was not the first fire on the property.

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Sutton said they had rebuilt their home after a fire destroyed their former one in 2000.

She said she suspects it was an electrical problem that sparked the fire.

“At least it’s not our house,” she said. “Every living thing survived.”

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