From Last Year: Barn Fire

Doyle Johnson embraces his wife Chelsea as Athens-Clarke firefighters work to extinguish a barn in the 4000 block of Barnett Shoals Road on December 15, 2010 in Athens, Ga. No people or animals were hurt in the fire but antique furniture stored in the barn was lost.

I was listening to the scanner when I heard a call about a barn being on fire. I looked out the window and saw from 5 miles away that it was fully involved.



When you see thick, black smoke on the horizon, you have to have to temper the instinct to drive like a maniac incredibly fast - its still going to be on fire when you get there. You still have to obey the traffic laws despite hitting every traffic light red (you will) and drivers with no sense of urgency. I was able to follow a fire truck until we got to the Barnett Shoals/Lexington Road nightmare interchange and then they went through the red light and I had to stop.



Athens-Clarke firefighter Jacob Jones, center, works to extinguish a barn in the 4000 block of Barnett Shoals Road on December 15, 2010 in Athens, Ga.









Spot news is interesting in that the best photos usually mean that something very bad has happened. With a barn fire, usually its just property loss. The horses were not in the barn and no animals were hurt. Unfortunately some antique furniture and other irreplaceable family heirlooms were lost in addition to several nearby canoes for a local Boy Scout Troop.

In the end, I'm very happy not to have covered any loss of life but I'm sad hear about the loss of family memories.