Fire kills hobby farm's barnyard animals

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Denise Raymo

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April 28, 2009

By DENISE A. RAYMO The Press Republican Fri May 14, 2010, 07:39 PM EDT

MALONE — Jodie and Glen LaClair bought a hobby farm at 15212 Route 30 to give their four children more room to play and explore.

But there was little left of it Tuesday.

A fast-moving fire tore through the garage late Monday night and quickly spread to the barn, killing a couple of pigs, rabbits, a goat and some chickens.

It also destroyed two Cameros that Mr. LaClair was restoring, as well as a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, all of his tools, two tractors and other equipment and goods in storage.

"The horses jumped over the fence and ran to the neighbors," Mrs. LaClair said as she stood in her driveway Tuesday, about 10 hours after the fire began.

"We caught one (horse) this morning, and the neighbor caught the other one last night and put it in his fence. We were able to save a bull, a pig and some chickens.

"We don't know what caused it yet, but they said it started in the garage," she said.

Records with the Town of Malone Assessor's Office show the main barn was two stories, measuring 30 by 80 feet, and the garage was a 25- by-62-foot one-story structure with a 14- by-20-foot attachment.

All were piles of rubble Tuesday that left a gaping hole in the landscape of northern Malone known as Degon Hill.

The faded yellow barn near the intersection with Route 30 and Lover's Lane was well known to travelers because of the writing on it: Hillside Farm A.J. Degon and Son.

The LaClair family was in bed when a passer-by reported the fire, and a neighbor called 911.

Franklin County Fire Control officials said they received six or seven cell-phone calls one after the other reporting the fire.

Malone Callfiremen were dispatched at 11:10 p.m., followed by mutual-aid alarms to firefighters from Constable at 11:13, Burke and Westville at 11:14 and Bangor and Chateaugay at 11:21 p.m.

"When I first saw it, the garage was on fire," Mrs. LaClair said, "but it got to the barn before the fire department got here. There was a pretty good wind, but they saved the house."

During all the confusion Monday night, Mrs. LaClair asked her father to take Dylan, 9; Jessie, 6; and the 3-year-old twins, Alexander and Alexis, away for their safety.

"We moved here from Constable two years ago for more room for the kids and for the barn," Mrs. LaClair said.

"The barn was really old, but we liked it. That's why we bought the place."

E-mail Denise A. Raymo at: draymo@pressrepublican.com