OLD BARN DESTROYED BY FIRE

Call Time: 7:15 p.m. April 11, 2009
Amherst Township – An early evening fire on South Dewey Road in Amherst Township has left one extremely old and even more extremely dilapidated barn in ashes.

Assistant Chief Jim Wilhelm of the Amherst Fire Department said that at first they received the call as a possible house fire – then it changed to a possible barn on fire. “When our Engine pulled out of the station our Firefighters were immediately able to see the large column of thick black smoke coming from that area. When we arrived the fire had already consumed the structure and it was on the ground.”

With no electric attached to the structure and nothing being stored inside, Wilhelm said that the fire at this point is being looked at as “suspicious in nature.”

Neighbors told Police that they saw three young kids running from the area shortly before seeing the blaze. Deputies from the Lorain County Sheriff’s Office and Officers from the Amherst Police Department spoke with witnesses and secured the area for Firefighters.

Wilhelm said that the property, owned by a man in Wellington, has been vacant for years. On the same property is an equally old and dilapidated two-story house. With busted windows and open doors, neighbors say they fear that someone might set that on fire next.

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