House spared after fire burns down barn on Old Warren Rd. in Palmer

PALMER, Mass. (WGGB/WSHM) - Western Mass News is learning more about the fire that destroyed a barn on Old Warren Road in Palmer Tuesday afternoon.

Palmer Fire crews called in neighboring departments for help with water supply and manpower. It took crews hours to battle the flames, and luckily, no one was hurt.

In the end, crews were unable to save the barn. All that is left standing amongst the rubble is the silo.

“First arriving crews on scene found a fully-involved barn, threatening the house that was next to it,” said Palmer Fire Chief William Bernat.

He told Western Mass News that was when the crews’ priority shifted.

“Our first priority was to contain and protect the exposure of the house,” he said.

That proved to be a successful effort, and Chief Bernat told us that the house was not damaged in the fire.

Palmer Fire Department received mutual aid from multiple Hampden and Hampshire County crews, including from Warren, Wilbraham, Three Rivers, Bondsville, Brimfield, Monson, Ware, and Belchertown

Chief Bernat told us that the barn’s location made it particularly difficult to fight the flames.

“This fire is out of our hydrant district, so we have to bring all of the water to the scene, so it requires a lot of tanker trucks to haul the water from our local fire hydrant system,” he explained. “That’s one of the drawbacks of this fire today.”

Chief Bernat added that the barn was mostly used for storage, meaning no animals were impacted by Tuesday’s fire.

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