Debbie Blank
Assistant Editor
A family trip to a NASCAR race in Bristol, Tenn., was ruined Thursday, March 18, when a barn started burning around 7:10 a.m., reported Batesville Fire Chief Todd Schutte.
“They had just left the house about 20 minutes earlier” when a neighbor discovered the blaze at 12801 N. County Road 50 W., then called the fire department and owner Tom Hughes, who returned to the farm.
When Schutte and nine other Batesville firefighters arrived, they saw “a big ball of fire. It was fully engulfed,” he said. A dog in the barn died.
The chief called two other departments to help. Morris responded with 12 and Napoleon with two volunteers.
“There wasn’t a whole lot we could do.” Firefighters stayed there for about two hours, extinguishing the fire and cooling everything down while investigating.
The blaze’s cause was a heat lamp placed in the barn for the dog.
With the building a total loss, Schutte estimated the damage at $20,000.
Debbie Blank can be contacted at 812-934-4343, Ext. 113; or debbie.blank@ batesvilleheraldtribune.com. To comment on stories, visit batesvilleheraldtribune.com.
