A three-alarm fire ripped through three barns in Lee, N.H., on Saturday night, killing 17 sheep and leaving the three buildings at a total loss, fire officials and an owner of the farm said.
Around 9 p.m., a fire broke out on Captain Smith Emerson Drive at Tuckaway Farm, a family-run farm in Lee, according to a statement from the Lee Fire Department and an interview with Sarah Cox, a family member who helps run the farm.
Fire and smoke were visible from a “considerable distance,” the statement said. As crews arrived on the scene, they saw the three buildings “fully engulfed,” according to the statement.
Cox said 17 sheep, which were “ewe lambs,” were killed, but all of the “pregnant ewes,” which totaled about 45, were “safe and sound.”
“We’re moving sheep around now with burn injuries,” Cox said by phone Monday afternoon.
Dogs were also saved from the structures, and no people were injured, according to Lee Fire Chief Scott Nemet. The three barns — a sheep barn, hay barn, and equipment storage pole barn — were destroyed, he said.
A home was “just feet away” from the three buildings, but crews were able to contain the blaze, according to the statement. The cause of the fire is under investigation, according to Nemet.
“All the buildings had so much damage, so we couldn’t see anything,” Nemet said.
Ava Berger can be reached at ava.berger@globe.com. Follow her @Ava_Berger_.