Since 1854 — News from Montcalm County and Ionia County, Michigan

By Cory Smith | on June 29, 2022

Firefighters from multiple fire departments, including the Lakeview District, Spencer Township, Sand Lake, Maple Valley Township and Montcalm Township fire departments, attempt to extinguish a barn fire Tuesday at 871 N. Masters Road in Maple Valley Township. — DN Photo | Cory Smith

MAPLE VALLEY TOWNSHIP — A Sand Lake man was treated for smoke inhalation after attempting to save his five pigs — all of which had to be euthanized due to burn injuries — following a barn fire Tuesday morning.

At approximately 11:36 a.m. firefighters from the Lakeview District Fire Department responded to 871 N. Masters Road in Maple Valley Township, about one mile southwest of Trufant.

“There was a lot of smoke. I could see the smoke from Cannonsville and Gravel Ridge (roads) as I was on the way to the station,” he said. “It was basically already a total loss by the time we got here.”

Drews said he immediately began putting water on the barn, which was completely involved upon arrival, from Engine 21. Shortly after his arrival, more firefighters continued to arrive from four additional fire departments, which included Spencer Township, Sand Lake, Howard City and Montcalm Township.

“With the wooden barn being wrapped in steel, the fire was pretty well trapped with flames just starting to peak out in little areas,” he said. “There was no way we could go inside.”

Charles Ash, who owns the property, said his grandson, Trever Ash of Sand Lake, was staying at the house on the property while caring for his five pigs that were stored in the barn when the fire occurred.

“He went in, checked on his pigs, went back in the house, started breakfast for himself, looked out and there were flames coming out of the roof,” he said.

In attempting to save his pigs, Charles said Trever suffered smoke inhalation and was driven to Spectrum Health United Hospital in Greenville to be treated.

“They took him to the emergency room in Greenville,” he said. “They are trying to stabilize him after he inhaled a lot of smoke trying to save his pigs. They want to stabilize him and then send him to Grand Rapids if they have to. I just hope he’s OK.”

Later on Tuesday afternoon, Charles told the Daily News that Trever was released from the hospital and did not require further treatment in Grand Rapids.

“It’s going to take a while for that stuff to get out of his lungs, but he’s going to be OK,” he said.

Charles said while Trever was able to rescue the pigs from the barn, unfortunately, they had to be euthanized afterward due to extensive burn injuries from the fire.

According to Lakeview Fire Chief Pat Carr, the cause of the fire is unknown and remains under investigation. He does not believe the cause of the fire to be suspicious.

While witnesses at the scene said they believe the fire started at the top of the barn, Carr said he can’t reach that conclusion based on his observations at this time.

“It might appear to have started at the top because the flames are going to break through at the top, but I’d be surprised if it started there,” he said. “However, that’s where the fire is first going to show in a structure like this.”

Carr does not have any leads at this time as to the cause of the fire.

“Sometimes when you have a hay mound and it’s wet you can have spontaneous combustion, but that doesn’t appear to be the case here,” he said.

While the barn did have electricity running to it, Carr said there is nothing conclusive at this time pointing to it being related to the cause of the fire.

“We don’t know of anything special that was using electricity at the time,” he said.

After the fire was secured and hotspots were extinguished, Carr continued to have water poured onto the structure as an added measure to prevent it from spreading.

“On most fires, we’d feel comfortable leaving at this stage, but stuff is just ultra-dry right now and we don’t want to take a chance — you can see where the pigs actually started the grass on fire where they laid down — so we want to be extra careful.”

Carr added that there was no way the structure could have been saved.

“We had adequate staff, Nate got on scene right away with another firefighter with him and everyone else was right behind him,” he said. “This wasn’t because of a lack of personnel, the fire just had too big of a jump on us.”

Water was transported to the scene from a pump station established by the Spencer Township Fire Department on Muskallunge Lake northeast of Trufant.

Charles was unsure if his insurance would cover the loss of the barn, and unsure if he would rebuild.

“That barn is over 100 years old, it’s sad,” he said. “It’s not only a loss of a barn … That building was historic. It was all hand-built. It was a basement barn, and those finished stones were all cut … It just makes me sick.

“Those are all timbers in there,” he said. “The people who built that, all of that handwork, cutting the trees, tongue and grooving them, building the cut-stone wall … I’ll never be able to replace it.”

Montcalm EMS assisted at the scene.

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