Fire destroyed a Posey County barn before dawn Friday. A neighbor snapped pictures of the blaze as she and others waited for help to arrive.
It was around 5:00 a.m. when Kathy Skinner was in her home and heard an unusual noise.
"I flipped my curtain back and the barn looked orange and I could tell from the other side of it that it was burning," Skinner told 14 News.
Skinner ran outside and found that her niece had already called 911. Her next instinct was to try and control the flames until firefighters arrived.
"The storm had flipped the john boat over and I couldn't get the hose loose," Skinner recalled.
She took photos with her cell phone camera as she stood by helplessly, watching her family memories burn to the ground.
"My brother, he built the barn. I mean he built it, blood, sweat and tears. He had all his shop tools and stuff like that in it," Skinner said.
Also inside was a brand new Harley, farm tractors and other equipment. It took five fire departments to control the flames.
Officials say getting to the barn was difficult at first, so was water supply.
"Around the structure, we have a lot of buildings, a lot of equipments sitting around. It was kind of hard to get to the building at first. And being in a rural area, getting water to the site was a hurdle," said Smith Township Fire Chief Zach Helfert.
Firefighters were able to fight the entire fire from the outside. They had it under control within half an hour.
Skinner says she's just happy no one was hurt. She says her family will come together to clean up the debris and possibly rebuild.
A cause has not been determined. Smith Township is handling the investigation.
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