Fast moving fire destroys barn
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GIBSON COUNTY, Tenn. — A man burning leaves accidentally sets his yard and barn on fire. Fire officials said it could have been a lot worse. “It was a very intense fire,” Gibson County Fire Chief Bryan Cathey said. “There was fuel in there, where he worked on his tractors and stuff. It caused a very very hot fire.” Fire officials said the man’s barn was quickly destroyed by flames Thursday afternoon. Neighbors say the smoke and flames were intense. “It was pretty black,” neighbor Tim Ballentine said. “There were probably tires or something made of rubber in there because you could smell the chemical smell in the smoke.” The home owner said he was burning leaves in his driveway but he thought he put the fire out. It then quickly spread throughout the rest of his yard. “He was mowing on the side of his house when he noticed black smoke,” Chief Cathey said. “He came around and the yard was on fire. He said the fire was spreading like gasoline through the dead grass.” Chief Cathey said if his department had not got to the scene when they did, the house next to the barn would have been destroyed as well. “The siding on the far side of the house was melting when we got here,” Chief Cathey said. “We attacked it first to keep the house from burning.” “It’s just one of those oversights,” Ballentine said. “Sometimes mistakes can be very costly.” Chief Cathey said from now until next May, you will need a permit to burn on your property but because of the dry weather he does not suggest burning.
