VBT, Belleville, Sumpter battle Bemis Road barn fire

Acetyline tanks exploded, sounding like a bomb, shortly after 4 p.m. on March 19 as firefighters worked at putting out a barn fire on Bemis Road between Haggerty and Riggs roads in Van Buren Township.
Fire Chief Dave McInally said the fire spread to the travel trailer next to the 30’x40’ barn and to the grass. He said three VBT police officers used brooms from the fire trucks to brush flames off the grass.
Chief McInally said the homeowner was cutting with a torch in his barn and left to go to another building and when he returned the barn was on fire.
He said Deputy Chief Andy Lenaghan was knocking the fire down with a hose. Once the water was accessed the fire was contained, he said.
The dispatch call to the fire department was at 4:16 p.m. Van Buren Township was assisted by Belleville and Sumpter Township fire departments. The barn and travel trailer were complete losses, he said.
Chief McInally said after the fire as the firefighters were returning to the station, they got a call from Haggerty Road just around the corner from the Bemis Road fire. He said the homeowner on Haggerty found his gas meter on fire, but he turned off the gas, and the fire went out.