Suspected Arsonists Hit Again

Normally I don't go much beyond the confines of the village limits or something that is personal to me when posting. However, early this morning all the sirens got the best of me. You kept hearing the sirens moving through town heading west. When you went outside you could smell something burning, even in town, but nothing was visible in the predawn skies. So I grabbed the camera & saddled up.

My efforts took me to the farm of Yellow Creek Township Trustee Dave Boyd at the corner of Route 39 & Oak Ridge Road out in the country. When I got there all you could see was billowing smoke and lots of fire trucks.

Sometime before daylight someone is suspected of setting fire to not one but two barns within a few miles of each other. Wellsville fire fighters were responding to a call to a barn owned by Dave McCoy in Madison Twp. on Forbes Road when they spotted flames spouting from the barn on the Boyd farm. Sources close to the Boyd family told me they got a call at 5:15 this morning telling them of the fire.

News 9 reported that both barns were a total loss. I was told the McCoy barn contained nothing but bales of hay. The Boyd barn also had bales of hay, eight or ten head of cattle and some sheep. They were able to get the equipment, the sheep and most of the cows out of the Boyd barn. I was told fire fighters had to go in with air packs and the jaws-of-life to free the other cows. Two of them got pretty badly burned and will be lost. I was also told that the Boyds lost somewhere in the neighborhood of 1,000 bales of hay.

News 9 also reported that there were 10 different fire companies responding to battle the blazes. From what I witnessed at the Boyd property the fire fighting efforts were purely professional. The different fire companies made continual round robin trips with their tankers to supply water. They had three pools set up on Rt. 39 feeding water to the pumpers with a hose running up Oak Ridge Rd. They were using two streams to fight the fire - one from the top of the ladder on the ladder truck and one at ground level that I could see. I think the ladder truck is the one we have here in the village.

Fortunately there was no one injured or worse. The potential is extremely frightening. Members of the Boyd family tried to get into their barn to free those cows and were forced back by the fire. Thanks to the Lord they got out without injury.

The lost of hay alone on these two fires and the other eight suspicious fires in the area is going to be an extreme hardship on those suffering the losses. That hay is grown, baled and stored to feed their live stock over the winter months. For some of them their livelihood depends on having that hay. Not counting the structures and equipment that was lost, the loss of the hay could well be devastating. The Boyd farm has been in that family for 135 years. To them that farm has been a way of life for generations going back to 1873.

According to the news fire marshalls and other officials are busy investigating these suspicious fires. The Sheriff's Office said they are going to increase patrols of the area. That's all well and good. However, I think there is a need to take this one step farther. I think it is beyond time for the Farm Bureau, the townships, the insurance companies, the county and granges to all get together and offer a healthy reward for the apprehension & conviction of those demented individuals, or individual, responsible for setting these fires. These people are sick with no regard for life, limb or welfare, whether human or animal, of the owners that have lost so much. They need to be stopped and stopped now. Maybe the offer of a reward would provide a break to make that possible.

My condolences to all that have suffered from these fires. I truly appreciate all that the farming community does for us and I deeply regret that these things have happened to you all. Thanks to all the fire fighters for their efforts. It is very heartening to once again see everyone pitching in to protect so many. Pictured above is a few scenes from the Boyd fire this morning. You can click on any of them to enlarge.

ole nib