Rain was not the main headline when a powerful storm blew through Rutland County, Vt., Friday night, but the intense wind certainly was. The severe thunderstorm brought down powerlines and forced an old dairy barn to collapse, trapping cows.
Clarendon Fire Chief Matt Jakubowski said that those down powerlines caused havoc with his fire rescue crew team quickly trying to get to the farm.
“We started back-tracking; we started down Route 7 in Wallingford to get to the barn because it was impassable in Clarendon with trees down,” the Fire Chief said in a statement. “And on the other side, Wallingford encountered a bunch of trees down across the road, but no power lines, so they were able to start cutting the trees, then we got there with our chainsaws and started cutting the trees away.”
Stephen Bromley, his son, Cecil, daughter-in-law, Sarah, and four of his grandchildren, all were in the barn at the time the storm came through and at the time the barn collapsed.
Sarah recalls that she heard something loud and thought to bring the children into the barn’s office on the west side.
“I remember counting four heads and putting them in the vestibule,” she says.
Cecil went in to the vestibule to cover his wife and four children. Soon after, the barn suddenly fell behind Cecil, Sarah and the four children, collapsing. Stephen thankfully was safe as well and Sarah shares that miraculously he was in the corn feeding area at the time the roof collapsed, a place he normally wouldn’t be at that time of evening.
“We had a lot of farmers on the scene from around the whole county; they were all coming in to help out as much as they could,” Fire Chief Jakubowski said, estimating that about 60 farmers had arrived on the scene, entering the collapsed barn to help the cows despite the danger.
According to Sheena Brown, a family friend, the family lost more than half of their cows.
“Thankfully they are okay, but they lost 33 of their 51 milking cows, their whole livelihood, changed in just minutes,” Brown says.
Jakubowski stated that all the cows were trapped under the rubble. Many cows that could not be freed or that were too badly injured had to be euthanized by a veterinarian.
“This is a tragic situation where the family lost their historic barn built in 1938. It was a classic Vermont barn with hay in the upper lofts and then the cows on the first floor where they were being milked,” Anson Tebbetts, Vermont’s Secretary of Agriculture said.
Despite losing their cows, the Bromley family feels blessed.
“God’s hands are in this,” Sarah says. “They have been in it from the beginning. He has a plan. We are so thankful for all the love and support from everyone in the community.”
Brown shares that the remainder of the cows and all the young stock have been relocated to a nearby farm for the time being. A Go Fund Me account has been set up for those that wish to contribute to help the family rebuild. The Bromley family plans to rebuild a barn to pass on to the next generation someday. Fundraiser for Sarah Bromley by Karen Tarbell : The Bromley Family -Fern Hill Farm Roof Collapse (gofundme.com)
