New York Barn Burns Decades after Blaze Hit Same Spot

A fire has decimated an upstate New York barn more than 30 years after a blaze destroyed another barn on the same spot and killed two children.

Edward Tyler remembers the first time his family’s barn in northern Rome burned in the 1970s. Two local children who had been playing with matches died.

Late Friday, Tyler and his wife thought they smelled a cookout. They later realized the rebuilt barn was on fire. They rushed to let their 50 cows out, but three died.

It took firefighters two hours to control the blaze. Firefighters were still hosing off smoking spots hidden beneath the barn’s collapsed roof Saturday afternoon.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

The remaining cows will be housed in another barn in Rome, about 45 miles east of Syracuse.

Information from: Observer-Dispatch