Firefighters extinguish barn fire.

By Rob Alway, Editor-in-Chief.

FREE SOIL TOWNSHIP — Firefighters saved a barn from being destroyed by fire Sunday afternoon. Free Soil/Meade Fire Department and Grant Township Fire Department were called to 2169 E Hoague Road about 11 a.m. for the reported barn fire. Fountain Area Fire Department was later called as well.

Upon arrival, firefighters discovered a lot of smoke coming from the old wooden barn, but were able to get inside and control the fire.

Owner Candy Wittlieff said her husband, Marcel, was inside the barn when the fire started. He had been moving some machinery around and started one, Candy said. That’s when the fire started. Marcel was uninjured.

Free Soil/Meade Assistant Fire Chief Mo Padilla said the fire could have been a lot worse, given the age of the barn. “One of the things that helped was that there weren’t many items in the barn,” he said.

Life EMS also responded to the scene as a precaution.

In less than an hour the fire departments had the fire extinguished.