Close Call For Amish Mom And Baby as Barn Explodes in Ohio
It’s been a bad couple of weeks for explosions in Amish buildings. Following the Amish schoolhouse explosion in northwestern PA, yesterday a barn and workshop were destroyed in an explosion and fire at an Amish property in Geauga County, Ohio.
The cause was reportedly a propane gas leak. A caller reported a “hissing” noise coming from the barn. Fortunately no one was hurt, but based on one report it was a close call for an Amish mother and child – for two reasons.
First of all, they were reportedly in the structure just prior to the explosion. A neighbor shared more via coverage at Fox 8 News:
“I was nervous that somebody was seriously hurt because I didn’t know right away if it was their home or what. I didn’t know if it was one of the out buildings because the wonderful Amish people have a lot of out buildings,” said Denise Day, who lives across the street from the farm.
Neighbors said just before the explosion, there was a close call for an Amish woman and her child.
“I understand that a woman was in there and had an infant or child in there and the baby started crying and that’s why she left. Thank God, and it was only a few minutes later when the building went up,” said Day.
Sounds like that baby chose the right time to get fussy. That’s the kind of “close call” story that gets told and retold over the years.
But even though the upset baby had, in its way, gotten them out of the building, there was a further explosive danger, as a firefighter explained in the report a Cleveland 19:
No other structures were destroyed, though the barn was close to a house and another barn.
Three other propane tanks on the property did not explode.
A firefighter said if those tanks had exploded, the reaction could have taken out the house or the other barn.
Exacerbating the problem, it was apparently very windy in the area yesterday. And the fire response encountered an additional challenge due to the location of the fire, via Cleveland 19:
Burton Fire said the incident occurred in a non-hydrated area of the township, requiring crews to establish a tanker shuttle operation to provide a continuous water supply.
Due to the rapidly deteriorating conditions, including structural stability, a partial roof collapse, wind-driven conditions and reports of explosions in the fire, firefighters operated in a defensive mode.
Crews were on scene until 2:38 p.m., conducting several overhaul operations and extinguishing remaining hotspots.
And Fox 8 added more on that:
Burton firefighters and those called in as mutual aid from 15 surrounding communities faced a tough job battling the blaze because of high winds and water had to be trucked to the farm.
“It was fascinating to see everything coordinated, it really was, and you could see like one tanker would leave, another tanker would come in with water. I’ve never, thank God, had to see anything like that before but they were very coordinated, working well together,” said Day.
Fortunately, no one – including animals – was hurt. One of the buildings – likely the workshop – was also reportedly used as a gathering space for Amish church services, as is common.
Buildings can be re-built, of course. And contrary to what the tone of the report might suggest, this was just a multi-functional building, not a sacred structure like a church.
I’d expect they would get a hefty helping hand from their neighbors and fellow church people. So I think “count your blessings” fits the bill here.
Amish
Is the mom and baby ok sending prayers their way