Fair Building Destroyed by Fire
Published: Friday, May 3, 2024
A fire broke out at the St. Joseph County (Mich.) Grange Fairgrounds on April 27, destroying a barn on the premises. The fairgrounds are currently closed until further notice and all animal shows have been canceled.
Barn 42, one of the fairgrounds' commercial buildings, was a complete loss. Firefighters were able to prevent the fire from spreading beyond the structure. Seven fire stations responded to the scene, including: Centreville Fire Dept., Colon Fire Dept., Burr Oak Fire Dept., Three Rivers Fire Dept., Fabius-Park Fire Dept., Mendon Fire Dept. and Tri-Twp. Fire Dept.
Centreville Fire Dept. arrived on scene at 4:14 p.m., just 4 minutes after the initial emergency call.
Fire Chief David Miracle said the extent of the fire was affected by wind. As a 42-by-230-foot structure, Barn 42 burned hot and fast.
"Upon our arrival we found Barn 42 with fire coming from the roof in the middle of the building. Due to the weather conditions the fire spread quickly and engulfed Barn 42. We tried to make an aggressive attack from the west end of the building but due to fire conditions we were unable to get an interior attack," he said.
An effort to douse the fire from above was futile.
Other structures within 30 feet of Barn 42 added to the difficulty, Miracle said.
"We had a lot of obstacles we had to work around," he said.
The Centreville Fire Department has determined the cause of the fire to be the power line coming from the power pole to the weather head on building 42. The powerline shorted out causing arching and sparking, as a result the arching and sparking caused the roof on Barn 42 to catch fire. Due to the high wind conditions the fire spread quickly across the tar coated roof, Miracle said.
The damage is estimated to be a loss equal to approximately $2.8 million.
However, only minor exterior damage occurred to surrounding structures. Barns 41 and 43 have minor heat damage.
The determinations were the result of witnesses at the fairgrounds, observations from fire personnel first and the fire investigation.
Mindy Timm, St. Joseph County Fair board secretary, was in shock and disbelief upon receiving word of the fire, she said.
Luckily, she said, no animals or people were nearby. There was a livestock show happening on the grounds, but that was on the far side of the fairgrounds. While winter storage items for the fair had been recently removed from the barn, some community members and businesses lost their storage items in the fire.
Items in the barn include 26 boats and trailers, according to the fire report.
The fair board hopes to have a new barn erected in time for the fair, which is scheduled for Sept. 15-21. However, if the rebuilding is delayed, another plan is in place.
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