Copake farm loses barns, dairy livestock in fire


***image1*** COPAKE — A large-scale barn fire burned for approximately eight hours Thursday, Dec. 17, at Snook Hill Farm, a dairy operation on Empire Road. Two structures were completely destroyed by the fire, a third was severely damaged, and an estimated 35 livestock were lost in the blaze.

Copake Fire Chief Randy Shadic said the Copake fire department was dispatched at 2:58 p.m., had a first unit on the scene seven minutes later and was working to contain the flames within 11 minutes.

The Copake and Ancram fire departments were the first on the scene, followed by Hillsdale and Craryville, Shadic reported. Departments from Millerton, Churchtown and Taghkanic provided mutual aid support.

"There was one building [on fire] with exposure to two additional buildings," he reported at the scene the following day. Preventing the residence from catching fire was the department’s top priority, he said, and responders to the scene mounted an "aggressive exterior attack" to prevent the fire from spreading.

***image3*** An effort was also made to rescue animals trapped inside the burning buildings. Shadic said there was some success with evacuation, but that some livestock returned into the burning building and were trapped there. The fire chief said there were approximately 80 cattle on the farm, and that an estimated 35 had been lost in the fire. The rest have since been moved off the property.

Snook Hill Farm is owned by Paul and Nancy Miller, who were not available for comment the next morning. New York State Electric and Gas responded to the scene and disconnected power and phone lines.

"We need to give tremendous appreciation to the fire departments that assisted," Shadic said. "It was a very extensive response, and their assistance was tremendous in helping save what could be saved."

A variety of factors contributed to the severity of the fire, the chief said.

***image4***"Barns are notorious for producing large open flames," he explained. "Once it starts, there’s no stopping. It’s unfortunate, but typical." The presence of hay, open wood materials, asphalt siding and tin roofs (which trap the fire) made it difficult to fight the flames. Single-digit temperatures and strong winds also contributed to the struggle.

The Columbia County Cause and Origin Team is currently looking into the cause of the fire. Shadic said he had no reason to believe it was anything but an accident.

***image5***

***image6***

***image7***

***image2***

Latest News

South Kent School’s unofficial March reunion

Elmarko Jackson was named a 2023 McDonald’s All American in his senior year at South Kent School. He helped lead the Cardinals to a New England Prep School Athletic Conference (NEPSAC) AAA title victory and was recruited to play at the University of Kansas. This March he will play point guard for the Jayhawks when they enter the tournament as a No. 4 seed against (13) Samford University.

Riley Klein

SOUTH KENT — March Madness will feature seven former South Kent Cardinals who now play on Division 1 NCAA teams.

The top-tier high school basketball program will be well represented with graduates from each of the past three years heading to “The Big Dance.”

Keep ReadingShow less
Hotchkiss grads dancing with Yale

Nick Townsend helped Yale win the Ivy League.

Screenshot from ESPN+ Broadcast

LAKEVILLE — Yale University advanced to the NCAA men’s basketball tournament after a buzzer-beater win over Brown University in the Ivy League championship game Sunday, March 17.

On Yale’s roster this year are two graduates of The Hotchkiss School: Nick Townsend, class of ‘22, and Jack Molloy, class of ‘21. Townsend wears No. 42 and Molloy wears No. 33.

Keep ReadingShow less
Handbells of St. Andrew’s to ring out Easter morning

Anne Everett and Bonnie Rosborough wait their turn to sound notes as bell ringers practicing to take part in the Easter morning service at St. Andrew’s Church.

Kathryn Boughton

KENT—There will be a joyful noise in St. Andrew’s Church Easter morning when a set of handbells donated to the church some 40 years ago are used for the first time by a choir currently rehearsing with music director Susan Guse.

Guse said that the church got the valuable three-octave set when Harlem Valley Psychiatric Center closed in the late 1980s and the bells were donated to the church. “The center used the bells for music therapy for younger patients. Our priest then was chaplain there and when the center closed, he brought the bells here,” she explained.

Keep ReadingShow less
Picasso’s American debut was a financial flop
Picasso’s American debut was a financial flop
Penguin Random House

‘Picasso’s War” by Foreign Affairs senior editor Hugh Eakin, who has written about the art world for publications like The New York Review of Books, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker and The New York Times, is not about Pablo Picasso’s time in Nazi-occupied Paris and being harassed by the Gestapo, nor about his 1937 oil painting “Guernica,” in response to the aerial bombing of civilians in the Basque town during the Spanish Civil War.

Instead, the Penguin Random House book’s subtitle makes a clearer statement of intent: “How Modern Art Came To America.” This war was not between military forces but a cultural war combating America’s distaste for the emerging modernism that had flourished in Europe in the early decades of the 20th century.

Keep ReadingShow less