Storage barn and contents destroyed in overnight fire

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HANCOCK COUNTY — An eastern Hancock County family was awakened early Wednesday morning to someone pounding on their front door telling them their barn was on fire.

The barn, owned by Mike Hubert, 5300 block of East U.S. 40, had flames shooting out of the roof when the stranger stopped to warn the family, Hubert said Thursday as he surveyed the rubble. The man helped Hubert pull things close to the barn out of harm’s way but left before he could be thanked.

By the time firefighters from the Greenfield Fire Territory, Knightstown, Charlottesville, Shirley and Wilkinson fire departments arrived at the scene, the barn and the contents were destroyed. Hubert estimated the loss in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Buried in the debris was the remains of the family RV and a farm tractor.

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No one was injured in the blaze, fire officials said. But firefighters had a scary moment when a damaged power line, ripped down by a strong wind, landed on a firetruck. The line fell on some hoses and burned them slightly. Had it fallen on the cab of the truck, the incident could have been much more dangerous, said D.B. Bowman, the Charlottesville fire chief.

The call came in at 2:42 a.m. Fire crews reported the roof fell in around 3:09 a.m. Crews had the fire under control a few minutes later before the south wall of the barn collapsed at 3:32 a.m. Firefighters remained on the scene until 5:35 a.m.

Bowman knew crews were in for a tough battle due to the high winds and falling temperatures, he said. Plus, when he was still a good distance from the fire the chief said he could see black smoke rolling on the ground, indicating it was going to be a long night.

While the fire is still officially under investigation, Bowman and officials from Sugar Creek Township Fire Department revisited the site to investigate and believe the blaze was caused by an electrical issue.

Hubert, the director of baseball for the Greenfield Youth Baseball Association, also believes the fire was electrical and noticed some of the nearby power lines were glowing bright red while the fire crews were fighting the blaze, he said.

Hubert also knows the fire could have been a lot worse.

“Fortunately, the wind was blowing that way (north),” Hubert said. “If it would have been blowing this way (west), things could have gotten pretty bad,” Hubert said.

The family’s home, which they’ve owned since 1981, is west of the barn, less than 70 feet away.

While no one was injured in the blaze, the storage barn, which measured 42-by-60 feet, housed a $127,000 recreational vehicle, a John Deere farm tractor, lawn equipment, tools and more, Hubert said. The fire also burned the rear of his daughter’s Ford Mustang convertible, which was parked next to the barn.

A day after the fire, Hubert, his wife, Rose Hubert, and their dog Lando were all doing fine, he said as he walked around the smoldering pile of rubble. However, he’s still somewhat in shock, never guessing he would one day be the victim of a fire like this.

Hubert, a former insurance agent and owner of Costin-Hubert Insurance in Indianapolis, said he wishes he had taken photos of everything in the barn, because he knows he won’t be able to recall all the things that were stored inside the 12-year-old structure.

“I’m discouraged,” he said.

Hubert is hoping to salvage at least some of his tools stored inside a steal box inside the barn once the pile cools down.