Livestock escape, but barn is leveled
MUDDY CREEK TWP — It was difficult for Bob Jesteadt to watch. The barn he built in 1967 was reduced to burning and smoking embers — the casualty of a wind-swept fire Monday morning.
Along with the massive barn and the hay in it, an outbuilding in back and a milk house were destroyed in the fire around 9:30 a.m. at Jesteadt Acres farm on Ragan Road.
Fire officials suspect the blaze was accidental, and probably electrical in nature. A damage estimate was not immediately available, but is expected to be steep. The property was insured.
No one was injured, neither were 25 beef cattle in or around the barn when the fire broke out.
“We were working in there when it started,” the 75-year-old farmer said. “The wind was so bad, in five minutes the whole barn was on fire.”
It wasn't long after that the barn was on the ground. According to Jesteadt, the structure was comprised of three sections measuring 40-by-60 feet, 40-by-40 feet and 30-by-40 feet.
He said the milk house measured 20-by-30 feet. While it no longer housed milking equipment, the outbuilding was used to store hay bales.Jesteadt and other family members were building a dormer on the barn to accommodate an elevator when they noticed the fire. They led 25 cows out of harm's way and managed to get a manure spreader out. But the piece of equipment was already ruined.The family also raced to get a number of round bales out of a one-time greenhouse precariously close to the barn.Jesteadt's son-in-law, Mike Hart, was working his sales job from his nearby home when he got a call that the barn was on fire. He rushed over on foot.“The barn was totally engulfed,” Hart said. “There were flames from one end to the other.”By the time fire crews arrived, it already was too late for the barn. Hart watched as the roof collapsed.“On our arrival, the barn was a total loss,” said Nate Blackwood, assistant chief for the Prospect Volunteer Fire Department.Also gone was the concrete block outbuilding in back of the barn.Smoke could be seen coming from two nearby silos. Crews deployed multiple handlines making sure to protect the silos and one of three former greenhouses — the one closest to the barn — from catching fire.It was not immediately known if the silos or greenhouse sustained any damage. The fire quickly spread to the milk house, which could not be saved.
“The wind was definitely an issue,” Blackwood said.Firefighters used water from two ponds at both ends of the farm. “Water was not a problem,” Blackwood said.The fire was not believed to be suspicious.“We believe it's electrical,” Blackwood said, noting Jesteadt told fire officials the blaze erupted shortly after the lights were turned on in the barn.The state police fire marshal was notified, but it was not known if the office would investigate.Jesteadt's late father bought the 100-acre farm in 1942. “I've been here my whole life,” Jesteadt said.He and his wife, Janet, raise about 60 beef cattle and operate their own butcher shop on the farm.The couple's son and grandson also are involved in the farm's operation, as are Hart and his son. They produce hay, corn, oats and soybeans off the land, as well as on three other farms Jesteadt rents.Some of Jesteadt's hay is sold to the Meadows Racetrack in Washington County, Hart said.Assisting the Prospect VFD were firefighters from Portersville, Harmony, Connoquenessing Township, Unionville, Slippery Rock, all in Butler County, and Slippery Rock Township in Lawrence County.
