Lack of water creates problem for firefighters battling Bonneville County barn fire

A Bonneville County barn is a complete loss after a fire broke out inside around 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.

“It is nice little kindling, fire fuel,” Robyn Longhurst told KIFI/KIDK reporter Chris Oswalt. The Longhurst family purchased the property near 1st East and 113th South in Taylorville in November.

“It is sad. The people that lived here and grew up here, so it’s sad for them because this was where they were raised and they grew up,” Longhurst said. “They probably have some good memories in there.”

Crews from the Idaho Falls Fire Department and Bonneville County Fire District responded to the fire with two engines, a ladder truck, two water tenders and two ambulances.

“Anytime we come out into the country, our response is actually larger than it is in the city,” Idaho Falls Fire Battalion Chief Cody Anderson said. “We need engine tankers because we need fire hydrants and we need extra manpower to man those water tankers.”

When crews arrived at the property, the barn was fully involved and was spreading to a vacant double-wide trailer on the property. Anderson said protecting the trailer quickly became a top priority because of the lack of water.

“Initially, we didn’t have the water tenders here so we just we just had the water on board of the fire engines and we were limited so we did have a couple of moments there where we were running low on water, we had to cut back our attack and just protect the trailers until the water tenders got here.”

The barn is considered a total loss; a major disappointment for the Longhurst family.

“It’s not fun to see anything burn, I don’t think,” Longhurst said. “In firewood and fires that are in a fire pit, that is OK. Stuff you don’t want to burn, that is not OK. We were going to clean this all up this fall and kind of go in and see what was available for crafts or whatever was left over.”

Investigators are still working to determine the cause of the fire. Crews were able to leave around 8 p.m. Wednesday night.

“I think the response is awesome,” Longhurst said. “We love our firefighters and all of the Bonneville County sheriff’s people. They’re so good to us out here. They don’t get enough credit in my opinion.”