One Of Counties Largest Barns Burns

On August 11, 1927 at 9:30 p.m. firemen were summoned to the Frank Hollar farm about one and a half miles east of town on the Pike for a barn fire. At the time of the alarm delegates from all over Cumberland County were attending a meeting of the Cumberland County Volunteer Firemen’s Association at the C. V. firehall. The meeting was quickly adjourned and many of the delegates headed to the blaze with the Shippensburg firemen. By the time firemen arrived the barn was well involved. Firemen pumped water into a trough with a gasoline engine and then pumped water from the trough with their engine to battle the blaze and protect the exposures. One of the exposures was a large lead cable of the American Telegraph & Telephone Company that ran from Harrisburg to Pittsburgh. The firemen applied all their chemicals to the line and then used water saving the line. The cause of the fire was undetermined but was believed to have been caused by spontaneous combustion since the farmer just finished harvesting days before the blaze. The loss was said to be heavy to the owner and tenant as the barn was said to be one of the largest in the county. The Vigilant Hose and Cumberland Valley Hose companies answered the alarm.