Six fire departments battle Sprucevale barn fire
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NEGLEY -- Firefighters from six departments battled a blaze that destroyed a two-story barn and two other buildings on Sprucevale Road Thursday night.
Negley Fire Captain Bev Shell said the cause of the fire at 8336 Sprucevale Road is yet to be determined, although it appears to have been electrical in nature.
Negley, East Palestine and New Waterford, all responded as automatic mutual aid to the fire called in by the barn owners around 10:30 p.m.
Shell said that Linda Gumbel was in the kitchen of her home getting ready to head upstairs for bed when she looked out the window and saw the fire at the barn owned by her and her husband Kenneth Gumbel.
Mrs. Gumbel then ran upstairs to wake her husband and call 911.
Shell said there were no animals inside the barn at the time, since Mr. Gumbel had already let the cows out for the night.
"He feeds them in the morning and then at night and then lets them out at night," Shell explained.
The barn was fully engulfed when the three crews arrived, and once they saw how big the fire was additional mutual aid was requested by Calcutta, Glenmoor and Lisbon fire departments, which all brought tankers and manpower for a total of 37 firefighters on scene.
"We had a lot of help there last night," Shell said.
Shell also said the barn also had a straw shed attached to it, and that there was also a machine shed nearby, and that all three were a total loss. The buildings were insured.
Crews had the fire under control by midnight using a dry hydrant just down the road. No injuries were reported and crews were back in service at 2:22 a.m.
Shell said Negley was called back for a rekindle of some hay on the property on Friday, but it only required one brush truck. Middleton Township also brought a backhoe to move some hay around while firefighters doused the rekindle.
kwhite@mojonews.com