- By Dan Veaner
- News
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Flames shot high into the sky when a barn at the John Joseph Inn and Elizabeth Restaurant burned to the ground Saturday morning. Fire fighters from Lansing, Cayuga Heights, Locke, and Genoa responded. But by the time the flames subsided there was only a pile of ash where the barn had stood.Owners John and Elizab eth Hamilton speculated that the fire may have been started by a heat lamp that was being used to incubate chicks, or just very old wiring in the structure. The couple had chickens and two pigs, none of which survived the fire. No people were hurt in the incident.
Lansing Fire Chief Scott Purcell interviews owners John (left)
and Elizabeth Hamilton as Scott Hamilton (right) looks on
The barn dated back to 1830, and was used to house the animals and store antique wood. That and hay for the animals made it vulnerable to the fire once it had started.
Pumpers dumped water into makeshift pools to feed fire hoses that were used to protect the wooden restaurant, as well as to put out the fire. A NYSEG crew removed power lines to the barn that constituted a hazard to the site. Hamilton says that it was impossible to get into the barn by the time the fire was discovered.
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