ELIMSPORT – A large barn owned by an Amish family on Back Road was destroyed early Wednesday morning, October 11 in a two-alarm fire that brought volunteer firefighters from three counties to the scene, according to Washington Township Fire Chief Brett Ulrich.

With the 40-by-80-foot-long building on the property of Ben Lapp at 640 Back Road, already engulfed in flames at about 12:20 a.m., first arriving crews poured water on a chicken barn, preventing the structure from also catching fire, Ulrich said.

Firefighters from Washington Township, Clinton Township and Montgomery responded on the initial alarm. Within 10 minutes, a second-alarm was ordered, bringing additional equipment and manpower from South Williamsport, Nippenose Valley, Muncy Area, Watsontown and White Deer to the scene.

The fire was called in by Lapp’s wife, who saw the flames from a window in the couple’s home.

An estimated 600 feet of hose was stretched from a pumper that drafted water from a nearby creek.

A township front end loader and a backhoe were used to break up about two dozen bales of hay burning inside the building. The bulk of the fire was knocked down by about 1 a.m. There were no reports of injuries and there was no livestock in the barn, Ulrich said.

The cause of the fire will remain undetermined, Ulrich said. Damage was estimated at about $100,000.