Rural Waukon barn destroyed in Thursday evening blaze ...

The Waukon Area Fire Protection District was called to a barn fire about four and a half miles west of Waukon at 371 Prairie Drive around 9 p.m. Thursday, June 1. The barn, located on the home farm of the Janice Cooper family, was fully engulfed when firefighters arrived on scene, as evident by the bright white flames near the left of the photo above that was taken a little more than three-fourths of a mile away. The bright lights to the right of the photo are those of some of the responding fire fighting vehicles from both the Waukon Area Fire Protection District and the Postville Fire Department, which was called to provide water tanker and other firefighting support for the blaze. Also assisting during the incident were the Allamakee County Sheriff's Office, Waukon Police Department and Veterans Memorial Hospital Ambulance Service.

Although the barn was burned to the ground (as evident in the photo below taken the following morning), actions of the responding fire crews did help save several nearby structures, some of which are pictured in the photo below and one of which was a small wooden shed that did actually catch fire but was quickly extinguished before any serious damage was sustained. No injuries were reported from the incident, and no animals were harmed by the fire as the Cooper family indicated they have not milked cows since the early 1990s and the building was currently used mainly for storage. Janice Cooper did indicate that the heat from the blaze was hot enough to melt the siding on the east side of the house that was facing the barn across the driveway. Cause of the fire is still under investigation.