Field Fire Spreads to Building Near E Bowsman Rd

In the early morning hours of Wednesday, September 3, a field fire near the area of E Bowsman Rd began to get out of control and spread to a nearby barn. The Salem Fire Department and Washington County EMS received the dispatch at 2:02 am from a third party caller (an uninvolved individual).

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Upon the arrival of the Washington County Times, what remained of a 40x80 foot building could be seen lying in ruin near a charred field. Thankfully, there were no injuries.

“It was a 40x80 foot storage barn for hay and a sundry of other farm equipment,” said Assistant Fire Chief Max Gamble. “There were approximately 200 bales of hay. There was also a bulldozer that was sitting near the front entrance. It was all a total loss. There wasn’t any power to the building, so we don’t really have a cause at the moment for the fire. It did initially get dispatched as a field fire, but they actually dispatched us to the area of Jim Day Road and Lewellen Road. However, once they got into the area they realized it was actually over on Bowsman Road, and they realized it had turned into a structure fire once they got to the scene.

“There were no injuries from the homeowners or from us,” he continued. “They were all in bed at the time. They actually didn’t even know it was happening until we came down the driveway with the sirens on. The property owner got some of his equipment out and helped us pull the metal off the flames. Basically, when the building collapsed, the metal fell on top of everything and contained and trapped the heat in. He helped pull all of that off and spread it around a bit. The situation took about an hour and a half to get it all under control.

“There were about 16 of us out there, and we ended up using 12,000 to 15,000 gallons of water. We also used some foam. The foam kind of helps soak down and extinguish the flames,” concluded Gamble.

Although there was unfortunate property damage, the scene was under control in a very timely manner with no injuries thanks to the early morning dedication of the Salem Fire Department and Washington County EMS.

Photos of the scene can be found below.