A Metal pole barn in the Hillsboro area was destroyed by fire on Monday.

A Metal pole barn in the Hillsboro area was destroyed by fire on Monday.

A metal pole barn at 9920 Sandy Valley Road in the Hillsboro area went up in smoke Monday (Feb. 5). Inside the 60-by-90-foot shed were two tractors, a combine, two hay bailers, a pickup and several round bales of hay, which were also destroyed, Mapaville Fire Chief Darryl Reed said.

At 2:10 p.m., Mapaville Fire Protection District got a call about the fire, and firefighers arrived at 2:15 p.m., Reed said.

“When we got there, the shed was open and there was a lot of black smoke everywhere, and about that time we were starting to see flame,” he said. Once the fire got to the metal, the shed fell in, Reed added.

Firefighters had to remove the sheet metal to fight the fire, so it took about two and a half hours to extinguish it, he said. Reed said lots of items and substances were fueling the fire.

“There were rubber tires, hydraulic oil and hay,” he said.

Reed said the shed belongs to two brothers who have a working farm, and one of them accidentally started the fire.

“One of the brothers was hooking up a battery charger to a battery and hooked the positive cable to the negative post so that it sparked and caught the hay on fire,” Reed said. “He said the tractor had also been leaking a little diesel fuel. So you see what happened.”

Reed said not much of the barn or its contents remained.

“Everything was totaled,” he said. “They said they have insurance.”

Temperatures in the mid-20s made it difficult for firefighters to fight the blaze, Reed said.

“It wasn’t extreme cold, but nobody wanted to get wet, but they did,” he said.

The Joachim-Plattin Ambulance District set up a “rehab” station where firefighters could rest, warm up and have their vitals checked periodically, Reed said.

Seven fire agencies helped fight the fire, he said.

“Everybody did a real good job, and not just our guys, everybody,” Reed said.

The Hillsboro, Goldman, Antonia, De Soto Rural, Hematite and Dunklin fire protection districts and the Festus Fire Department and the Joachim-Plattin Ambulance District helped with the call, he said.

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