While there were no injuries, Cheryl Duncan, who lives in the house in front of the barn and is the daugher of Bill Watt, who owns the tractors, said, “My dad’s complete antique tractor collection is gone. Some of them are from the 1920s and ‘30s.”
Duncan said she didn’t know how many tractors were in the barn, but there were at least 8-10.
She said the family was planting a garden when someone smelled smoke. By the time they found the source, “the whole roof of the barn was on fire,” she said.
Duncan said she did not know how old the barn was, but it was probably built about the same time as her house, which was built in 1912.
Her home sustained damage in the back, mainly to its siding.
The initial investigation into the cause of the fire indicated that the fire may have been started by a hot tractor that had recently been used and put away.
The initial call to report the fire came at 3:30 p.m., said Matt Rhoades of the Phillipsburg Fire Department. “When we arrived, we found the building fully involved,” he said. “We saved the house and there were no injuries. We lost only what was in the barn.”
Because there are no water lines in the area, tankers had to be used. Rhoades estimated 10-15,000 gallons of water were used to extinguish the fire.
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