A farm in Mantua Township went up in flames Thursday evening, resulting in the loss of over 20 goats and the main barn destroyed, according to the barn owner's cousin.
News 5 was on the scene of the fire and spoke to Nicholas Nowak and Ronnie Kotowski, who are cousins of the barn owner.
"They had just left, and they went over to Kent to get some dinner and called him and said ‘Hey, where are you?’ Your barn’s on fire,'" Kotowski said.
Family members told News 5 the barn owner has been living there all of his life.
Cows were at the location of the fire but were outside of the barn and remained safe.
Aside from the loss of goats, no one was injured.
The barn behind the main one, known as the corn crib, was saved due to the quick response of firefighters on the scene.
A neighbor told News 5 they tried to save the goats but could not get there in time.
The family told News 5 that a neighbor made it in time to save the family's dog, who was slightly injured.
"Everyone was running down the road to help in any way." said Nowak, "I mean we were helping out the firefighters, dragging [the] hose up. I mean anything to help."
As the family figures out the next steps, they asked for prayers.
"Especially with everything that’s going on that we can all come together in a time of unfortunately [a] tragedy," Nowak said.
Local authorities told News 5 the cause of the fire is under investigation.
