By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
Firefighters spent all night long at a fire on a large dairy farm in between Onalaska and Salkum that destroyed several tons of alfalfa and grain, but was prevented from spreading to an adjacent loafing shed for cattle.
Lewis County Fire District 8 Assistant Chief Don Taylor said he didn’t know how many animals were inside the shed because the electricity was out.
Members of three fire departments responded to the 6:26 p.m. call yesterday evening on Jorgensen Road near Gore Road.
The commodities shed – an approximately 120 foot by 40 foot three-sided building where the feed was stored – was burning, apparently having ignited after a large field tractor caught fire, Taylor said.
Leo Zylstra’s Misty Morning Dairy is an operation that milks 24 hours a day, according to Taylor.
It only took about 45 minutes to knock the fire down, but the last of the crews didn’t depart until about 5:30 a.m. today after pulling out and extinguishing the smoldering feed, he said.
The tractor, Taylor estimated was valued at as much as $175,000, was hooked up to a grain grinder. The tractor was destroyed, he said.
Taylor was meeting with a fire investigator this morning to try to determine what caused the fire.
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter