SNOW HILL — If it wasn’t for three ladies, five people might be telling a different story.
Linda Barfield of Snow Hill heard a car horn blast Monday afternoon and a lady yelled, “The barn’s on fire!”
Barfield said, “I’m glad those ladies stopped or we would have never known it.”
The barn was several feet away from the trailer, at 25 Shady Grove Church Road, where Barfield, her husband, his brother and two children were inside unaware of the smoke and flames outside.
The Good Samaritans called 911.
The barn, full of appliances, mattresses and what-not, was in flames when the five people in the house ran out. It was so hot, the vinyl at the end of the trailer where Barfield lives with her husband and son melted.
“It was like the smoke was really black,” she said. “It was really scary, and I had kids in the house.”
It was too late for the nearby van that they had borrowed from a friend, but they rushed to move their other vehicles away. Barfield said she was afraid the van would blow up.
The trees behind the barn caught fire and the wind carried it across to an oak tree in the distance, which started a second fire in the woods by the road. Then the wind carried flames across the wood and started a third fire.
Barfield said she called 911 several times before emergency responders arrived. Hookerton Fire Department responded with other firefighters.
Hookerton Chief Shaun Jackson said the call came into dispatch about 5:24 p.m. He had no additional information at press time.
Mona Barfield of Snow Hill, the owner of the property, said she was in Greenville when she received a call about the fire. She said she wasn’t sure what was in the barn, but she didn’t believe anything in it was flammable. The items had been in storage there for awhile.
“The barn was halfway down, anyway,” she said. “We were going to tear it down.”
Linda Barfield was relieved the fire hadn’t destroyed the home she rents.
“I just thank God,” she said, pointing away from the house, “that He kept the flames and smoke going that way.”
Margaret Fisher can be reached at 252-559-1082. Follow her on Twitter @MargaretFishr.