KREAMER -- A fire that started in an abandoned building in rural Snyder County spread to a nearby barn and destroyed both structures Thursday afternoon.

Chris Catlin, deputy fire chief of the Kreamer Fire Company, said the blaze began around 4:45 p.m. in a vacant building on East Ridge Road in Middlecreek Township. The fire quickly spread to an adjacent barn.

By the time firefighters arrived on the scene, both structures were almost destroyed, he said. Hay inside the barn fed the fire and sent thick clouds of smoke blowing across fields surrounding the property.

Catlin did not get a chance to talk to the owners during the fire. He said they were moving livestock away from the barn while firefighters tried to get the blaze under control. When the fire destroyed the barn, it cut the power to the owners' electric fence, which was keeping the livestock penned in, Catlin said.

The chief said he didn't think there were any livestock inside the barn at the time of the fire, but said some equipment inside was destroyed.

Approximately 40 firefighters responded and quickly brought the fire under control. Catlin said they used seven tankers, filling them up at a nearby pond.

After they extinguished the blaze, firefighters were busy removing charred and warped pieces of tin, which was all that remained of the barn, to get at the hot spots.

There were no injuries connected to the fire, but a man who was at the scene was taken to a hospital by Middleburg Ambulance for a medical condition, Catlin said.

Firefighters from Kreamer, Middleburg, Selinsgrove, New Berlin, Penns Creek, Shamokin Dam and Hummels Wharf responded.

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