SOUTH BUFFALO TWP, Armstrong County — An early morning fire destroyed a barn near the border of Armstrong and Butler counties, but no people or animals were harmed, according to a firefighter on the scene.

At about 4 a.m., first responders were dispatched to the 150 block of Iron Bridge Road, according to 1st Lt. Randy Reamer of the Buffalo Township Volunteer Fire Company. Reamer said his team was on site for about five-and-a-half hours putting down the flames, which left the structure a “total loss.”

Reamer said no one was hurt and that animals were out in the pasture at the time. The barn held hay bales, two tractors and a horse trailer, he said. The equipment was destroyed.

“We had to pull about 40 round hay bales out, separate them and just drown them in water,” Reamer said. The fire was in Armstrong County, but was originally called in as a Butler County fire. Iron Bridge Road begins in one county and ends in the other.

Besides Reamer's department, fire departments from Saxonburg, Herman, Armstrong County's South Buffalo Township and Worthington, Westmoreland County's Allegheny Township and Allegheny County's Harrison Hills all responded to the blaze.

Bill Booher, a neighbor, confirmed Thursday morning that he saw the property's horses out in their pasture, and he believed none were harmed.

“My son saw the explosion, Booher said. “He said the fireball was about three stories high.”

The fire's cause was not immediately clear.