Livestock saved, two barns destroyed in fire

OREGON – Twenty to 30 sheep and one llama were saved after two barns caught fire in the 1300 block of South Skare Road on Monday evening, Oregon Fire Chief Michael Knoup said.

There were no livestock lost to the fire and no people were on the scene at the time of the fire. Both barns were a total loss, Knoup said.

“I think it was a great save,” Knoup said. “The challenge is how far that property is from our station. We cover 120 square miles, and we got there in 12 minutes. We got them all out.”

Two barns were destroyed during a fire on Monday in the 1300 block of Skare Road, just south of Illinois 64, but all the livestock survived. Several fire departments responded to the call including Oregon, Mt. Morris, and Stillman Valley. (Earleen Hinton)

The fires in both barns were fully involved when fire crews arrived. The fire was upgraded to a third alarm due to not having a water supply nearby. Knoup said “every crew you could think of” responded to provide water assistance.

The barns were used for raising sheep, Knoup said. The owner was onsite feeding the animals around 4 p.m. before leaving. The call came in at 10:24 p.m. and fire crews wrapped up at 2 a.m.

“I don’t know if we were the closest department,” Knoup said. “The fire districts were laid out unusually originally. Oregon was a large district then.”

The cause of the fire is currently ruled as undetermined. Knoup said he didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary and he’s leaning toward electrical as the cause. There were devices on site used to heat water, he said.