Two barns burn along with rabbits and antiques
The Enterprise — Elizabeth Floyd Mair
Two barns at 1143 Meadowdale Rd. were a total loss in a late-afternoon fire on Wednesday. One barn was built first, and then the other added on later beside it, with no door in between, said homeowner Marilyn Reese, who was shaken up but unharmed. Crews from Guilderland Center, Voorheesville, and Altamont kept the blaze from spreading to any other structures on the property. Four miniature horses were saved, but three pet rabbits died.
GUILDERLAND — Two barns, side by side, went up in flames Wednesday afternoon at 1143 Meadowdale Road.
Guilderland Center Fire Department Chief David Dodge said the call came in as a small outdoor fire that had spread to a barn. Firefighters are investigating how the fire started.
“When we arrived,” he said, “it was fully involved, and there was no salvaging the barns.” Firefighters concentrated on keeping the flames from spreading to the house or to other small structures and a chicken coop near the barns, he said.
“No one got hurt, so that’s the important thing,” Dodge said. He added that Voorheesville and Altamont fire crews had provided mutual aid.
Four miniature horses that had been in the second of the two barns to burn were removed safely and were in a neighbor’s barn.
Marilyn Reese, who lives on the land and owns the barns, said that her three beloved lionhead rabbits had been in one of the burned barns. So had some of her mother’s antiques, like her grandfather’s porch chair.
“It was made of iron, with huge curved wooden arms. It was a monster, but I loved it,” she said. “It had been outside in the rain the other day, so I said, ‘I have to get it in the barn!’”
