BENTON —
Walt Steffen didn’t know anything was wrong until two men stopped by his home. They had news.
“They said they were coming up from Syracuse and they said they saw smoke coming up from the roof,” Steffen said Tuesday morning. “They said, ‘Your barn’s on fire.’”
Firefighters were dispatched to Steffen’s property at C.R.s 33 and 48 at 9:42 a.m. to battle the blaze. Seated nearby, Steffen watched their progress.
The fire destroyed the barn, and Steffen said the building’s contents were a loss, too. They included a 1983 Mercedes that Steffen said “would just run down the road like a top.” A Bobcat, some hay and woodworking tools were also destroyed.
Steffen has lived at the property since 1956. The barn had been in place around 25 years. It was a replacement structure for a barn that also burned. Steffen didn’t know what caused the earlier fire, either.
“I don’t know if there’ll be another barn or not,” he added.
Firefighters from Benton and Clinton townships and New Paris and Syracuse were called to the scene. Benton fire chief Jason Dunlap estimated that it took a little more than an hour to get the fire under control.
No one was injured in the firefight. Dunlap said Tuesday afternoon that the cause of the blaze was undetermined.
Breaking News
Related Photos
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Firefighters work to extinguish a barn fire this morning at the home of Walt Steffen at the intersection of C.R.s 33 and 48. SCOTT WEISSER
Passers-by alert man that his barn was on fire
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