Fred Stabbert III | Democrat Fire investigators Jim Collins of Liberty, left, and Charlie Fallon review the scene of the fire Tuesday morning to determine the exact cause. Firemen were able to save all the animals in the barn as well as the structure itself.

Quick action saves Kenoza Lake barn

By Fred Stabbert
SWISS HILL NORTH — March 12, 2010 — Instead of Mrs. O’Leary’s cow we had Mrs. Rajlevsky’s goat.
But luckily the outcome was much different as more than three dozen firemen from five fire companies raced to the scene of an early morning fire on Tuesday in time to save five goats and a barn.
“Awesome…those guys were amazing,” a relieved Linda Rajlevsky described the firemen as she held two of the surviving goats. “Matt Fulton and John Girrbach saved our animals, they dragged them out of the barn.”
Luckily, some firemen are very experienced with farm equipment, too.
Tom Gain hopped on a tractor and was able to pull the twenty burning round bales of hay out of the barn, thus saving the structure.
That allowed the firemen from Kenoza Lake, Jeffersonville, Youngsville, Hortonville and Lake Huntington to knock down the blaze and save the 32' by 48' woodframe structure.
The back wall had to be opened up to fight the blaze, but with the burning hay removed, firemen made quick work of the remaining fire.
“Thank God we had snow on the ground,” Kenoza Lake Fire Chief George Slater said. “We could put the bales on that [and the fire wouldn’t spread.]”
Rajlevsky, who operates a goat farm with her husband Alan just outside Kenoza Lake, said she was trying to keep four newborns warm Monday night using a heat lamp.
“One of the goats kicked over the heat lamp, which burned through an electric cord, which started the fire,” Linda said. “I will be a speaker on the danger of heat lamps.”