Barn burning

It’s not a scene you ever want to see, and it’s not one I expected on an otherwise uneventful dog-walk. Whenever I hear sirens or see passing firetrucks, I notice whether they’re headed toward my house. Reggie and I were returning from our usual walk downtown when I saw one then two firetrucks racing in the direction we were walking: homeward. This isn’t my house, nor is it is my street, but it’s close enough that when I saw smoke apparently billowing from 8 Grove Street here in Keene, I felt a pang of sympathy for the almost-neighbors who live there.

I say “apparently billowing” from 8 Grove Street because those firetrucks weren’t racing like a proverbial house on fire; instead, this afternoon’s fire originated in a barn between the house pictured above and the ivied wall pictured here and here. According to an early report, fire-fighters quickly got the blaze under control, but not before the barn’s roof and part of its second floor collapsed. By the time Reggie and I happened upon the scene, police officers were re-routing traffic, and I overheard one firefighter on walkie-talkie warning another about the second-floor collapse.

It’s not a scene you ever want to see, especially in your own or an almost-neighbor’s home…and yet, I wasn’t the only one who snapped a picture or two before moving myself along. In the few minutes I stopped to rubberneck, I saw one teen-aged girl snapping photos on her cell phone while a man darted across Water Street, camcorder in hand. On an otherwise uneventful day in Keene, NH, a burning barn passes for headline news, especially once you’ve determined that you, your own, and your almost-neighbors haven’t been harmed by fire.

UPDATE: You can see better photos of efforts to extinguish the fire here, on the Southwest New Hampshire District Fire Mutual Aid blog.