“It was reported when the son (of the property owners) came home at 11:30 at night - there was an SUV in the driveway,” German Twp. Police Chief Michael Stitzel said. “When it (the SUV) saw him, it pulled out.”
Stitzel said the son attempted to follow the blue SUV, but he was unsuccessful.
Shortly after the son returned home, “he noticed the smoke coming from the barn,” Stitzel said.
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When fire crews arrived, they were able to protect all exposures, Weaver said.
“The problem was it was around bales of hay and that stuff burns for a long time,” Weaver said. “It was more or less just keeping it cooled down and protecting exposures around it. It burned for a day or two.”
Mutual aid from Pike Township was requested.
After the fire was extinguished, the barn was ruled a total loss, according to Weaver.
Not having a barn for hay is causing problems for the property owners, Steve and Tammy Rust.
“The biggest thing is we need to have a structure back up and in place within six weeks because we are going into planting and baling season,” Steve Rust said. “We now have no where to go with any new hay product coming in.”
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The Rust family believes they will have to build most of the barn back up by themselves because finding a contractor will probably be “almost impossible,” Steve explained.
According to Stitzel, two days before the barn fire a couch was set on fire on Tremont City Road.
He said it is unique that there has been two fires within that many days.
“We are still looking into a lot of different things,” Stitzel said.
The German Township Police Department encourages residents to contact them if they see anything that is out of place.
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