By Jessica Mathews / news@whmi.com


Crews from multiple fire departments battled a stubborn barn fire in Hartland on Tuesday that’s believed to have been intentionally set.

The fire broke out around 7:30am at a barn off of Clyde Road. Hartland Deerfield Fire Authority Chief Adam Carroll said it was a very large barn that was originally a riding arena where multiple round hay bales were stored. Carroll tells WHMI it looks as though the fire was possibly intentionally set. He said the Livingston County Sheriff’s Office is investigating and a person of interest was being was being questioned.

Carroll said it was a stubborn fire that had a lot of manual labor involved and the last units didn’t clear the scene until the early afternoon around noon or 1pm. He noted two separate ends of the barn had two different piles of hay bales – one end had at least 30 round bales and then there were another 40 square bales in a loft area. In addition, there were no fire hydrants located in the area. Carroll said they had various agencies just for the manpower help because of the size and amount of work to do but then also to maintain a water supply.

Carroll thanked all of the responding fire departments that helped on scene, as well as the Sheriff’s Office, the Disaster Assistance Response Team or DART and Livingston County EMS. The Brighton, Green Oak, Howell, Highland and Fenton City Fire Departments were among those responding. Carroll said there were no injuries but one firefighter was sent to be evaluated for issues with dehydration and heat who had a little trouble getting his breathing back under control but Carroll said he’s good and resting comfortably.

Pictures courtesy of Kurt Stromlund - DART