The Tracy Fire Department and Tracy Ambulance assisted the Marshall Fire Department at a structure fire Saturday afternoon at the Gerald Dietz residence at 1884 Lyon County Road 260th Ave., 13 miles northwest of Tracy in Sodus Township.
The blaze, which started when a controlled burn on the southeast corner of the property got out of control, destroyed three other smaller structures on the property, as well as a large barn that was filled mostly with straw and/ or hay, plus some guineas, Anderson said.
“Three (buildings) were already on the ground by the time we got there, and the barn was already on fire,” Marshall Assistant Fire Chief Tim Anderson said. "With a barn fire, you need a lot of water, so we paged for Tracy, Balaton and Garvin, and they assisted us with water and manpower.
Anderson said the large barn went down in about 10 minutes.
The size of the fire brought heat strong enough to cause some heat damage to the side of the main residence, a detached garage and a pick-up.
Balaton First Responders and Garvin First Responders were called to the scene shortly after 2 p.m. Marshall was the primary on scene and was there for about three hours.
“The majority of that time was spent taking care of hot spots underneath the tin of the barn,” said Anderson. “We thank Tracy, Balaton and Garvin — we didn’t have enough water or manpower, so we really appreciated their help.”
