Rome barn destroyed by fire
Aug. 28—ROME TOWNSHIP — Firefighters from eight departments battled a blaze that destroyed a barn at 2697 Callender Road on Friday evening, said Rome Township Fire Chief Ed Koziol.
Koziol said the owner was unaware of the fire till a neighbor saw the blaze and the fire department was called at 6:42 p.m. He said the fire was through the roof and a wall when the fire department arrive on the scene.
The barn was 150 to 200 years old and was used to store 25,000 square feet of hardwood flooring, equipment and pieces of a family log cabin from West Virginia, Koziol said. He said the wood fueled the blaze and made it very difficult to bring under control.
"We were able to save the surrounding structures," Koziol said.
He said 35 firefighters and emergency personnel responded from Rome, Hartsgrove, Jefferson, Montville, Morgan, Orwell, Trumbull, Windsor and South Central Ambulance District.
Koziol said an estimated 91,000 gallons of water were used to battle the blaze and came on tanker trucks from various departments. He said the fire departments' tanker trucks used two separate fire hydrant sites, one near the Rome Township Fire Department, and another in Roaming Shores, to load the trucks to transport the water.
"We split it up and it went pretty well," Koziol said.
He said the structure and its contents were a total loss, but damage estimates were not available. The cause of the fire is unknown.
