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Barn fire chars family's things Medford firefighters prevented the blaze from igniting explosive items A fire that destroyed a barn containing antiques, tools and explosive material was under investigation Saturday. Nick Clark was driving west on McAndrews Road when he noticed a plume of smoke filling the sky. "I thought, 'That could be our barn!'" Clark said. When he arrived at the structure in the 800 block of West McAndrews, Medford, the building that housed more than a generation of his family's belongings was destroyed in the 1 p.m. blaze. The biggest loss most likely was a 1958 Ford Edsel, the charred husk of which firefighters hosed off as the Clark family looked on. The car had been parked for 20 years in the rear of the barn, which Nick Clark and his brothers, Ted and Jerry, inherited along with a nearby house when their parents died. Nick Clark said he hoped some of his father's numerous hand and power tools could be salvaged. Firefighters who arrived to 20-foot flames shooting from the barn's roof were concerned about hazardous materials in the structure, said battalion chief Kurt Bennett of the Medford Fire Department. They removed oxygen and acetyline welding tanks before they exploded. Firefighters also kept the blaze from spreading to gun powder and live ammunition, which was stored behind a sawdust-insulated wall in a separate part of the barn. Eleven firefighters with four engines and one water-hauling truck controlled the fire in 15 minutes and stopped it from extending to the Trading Post, a nearby business. Because no one was inside the barn, firefighters were able to douse the flames with 500 gallons of water per minute from a nozzle on top of the engine, Bennett said. Both lanes of traffic on McAndrews west of Columbus Avenue were halted for more than an hour to give crews access to a hydrant across the street from the fire scene. Cause of the fire was undetermined as of Saturday evening. Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.