Fire At Abandoned Barn Considered Suspicious

MANHATTAN, IL - The barn that caught fire and burned to the ground in Manhattan Township over the Memorial Day weekend was a long abandoned building that hadn't had electricity in years, according to fire officials who consider the Sunday night blaze suspicious.

"It was an abandoned building and had been abandoned a really long time, so long that the trees and bushes had grown around it and you could barely see it," said Manhattan Fire Protection District Fire Chief Dan Forsythe. "There were no storms or power there, so someone had to have set it."

It was an "all hands on deck" response from Manhattan fire units when they were called to the scene at 22525 S. Schoolhouse Road around 8 p.m. on May 27. Crews from Monee helped Manhattan battle the blaze as firefighters from Frankfort and New Lenox provided standby help at the Manhattan fire station in case other calls came in at that time, according to Forsythe.

Forsythe said no one was injured in the fire, which took crews about an hour to put out.

But that was too late for the building, which turned into a pile of rubbish as a result.

Forsythe said it's not too often Manhattan fire units are called to fight a barn fire.

"There aren't too many abandoned farm buildings in our district anymore," he said.

RELATED: Barn Burns To The Ground On Schoolhouse Road

Photo by Todd Sherman / Northern IL Fireground