Family Loses More Than A Dozen Animals In Barn Fire
FAYETTE COUNTY (KDKA) -- Days later, smoke is still rising as charred poles stand over mounds of ashes and a pile of corrugated tin are all that's left of the McGill Family Barn.
The barn went up like a tinderbox on Friday at around dinnertime. Along with a few chickens, 18 goats were lost and a number were babies that could be heard screaming in the flames.
"Oh yeah, you could hear the babies scream -- and it's -- you don't want to ever hear that. You really don't," said Cissy Frazee.
Frazee, 42, and her father tried everything to reach the animals.
"And my daughter and my husband was calling the goats out and they were coming out they were on fire," said Frazee.
"Got my fingers burned, you can see the blister there and here. Main concern was keep her from going in the building to get 'em out 'cause them animals were like kids to her," said Ronald McGill.
"We saw a couple of goats laying right there...and found a couple of little one," said Frazee's daughter Susan.
The family believes the nanny goats were on top of their babies trying to protect them.
One billy goat that was about 3 weeks old was able to get out of the fire. Despite the billy goat getting out safely, he lost his twin sister and his mother.
"He's swollen," said Frazee.
Frazee can't talk about the loss yet, as she has been raising goats since she was a little girl.
The cause of the fire may have been electrical.
"There was a raccoon at the top of the barn and we think maybe it chewed the electric wires," said Frazee.
About 800 square bales of hay were destroyed too. But country people like the McGills don't give up easily.
"Oh no, just gotta keep going, that's just part of life, you know," said McGill.
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