Highway 14 west closed due to barn fire
JANESVILLE Four fire departments were battling a barn fire Saturday night west of Janesville.
Janesville Fire Department was dispatched to 4790 W. Highway 14 in the town of Janesville at 9:14 p.m. Saturday, according to Rock County Communication Center shift supervisor Michelle McMahon.
Footville Fire Department was called in, as well as water tankers from Edgerton and Milton.
The property is home to a large barn and a number of buildings that are close together, McMahon said. The property is owned by Jim and Kerri Alt, and they had goats in the barn. They're not yet sure how many animals they lost, but many were able to escape.
It isn’t certain how the fire started, but Kerri thinks it might have been an electrical fire.
The fire could been seen from a mile away.
“It’s big. We were about a quarter-mile away, and we could hear it crackling,” said Josh Goldberg, who lives in the neighborhood.
At 10:15 p.m., Goldberg said he could still see “a huge glow over there.”
Highway 14 was closed in both directions between Burdick and Fitzsimmons roads.
Because of temperatures below freezing and the amount of water being used, the fire department called for sand and salt on Highway 14 and the “danger curve” where County E connects to Highway 14, according to scanner communications.
