Ridgefield barn burns down just weeks after housing 800 cows

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Last Wednesday, July 19, Clark County Fire & Rescue responded around 2 a.m. to a barn fire at a dairy farm located at  23117 NW Hillhurst Road in Ridgefield.  

Kathy Jansen, daughter of farm owner Wanita Kennedy, said the blaze was spotted by a newspaper delivery driver.   

Given the extent of the blaze, Clark County Fire & Rescue spokesman Tim Dawdy said a second alarm was sounded summoning surrounding departments. The Vancouver Fire Department, Clark County Fire District 6, Clark County Fire District 3 and Cowlitz County Fire District 1 were soon at the scene.  

Dawdy said crews faced large flames and heavy plumes of smoke. 

Furthermore, given the farm’s location, there were no fire hydrants accessible. This made the situation all the more complex. 

Firefighters began transporting water from Ridgefield High School, almost a mile away.  

Dawdy said their first priority was to stop the fire from spreading to an adjacent barn housing cattle. Next, they began working to prevent it from spreading to any of the other surrounding buildings. 

It took around 45 minutes for crews to control the fire, after which they worked at identifying and putting out hot spots over the next 12 hours, Dawdy said. 

The 12,000 square-foot barn was a complete loss.

Before its demise, Clark County Deputy Fire Marshal Susan Anderson estimates the barn being worth $135,000 and housing around 140 tons of hay with an estimated value of $21,000. 



As of The Reflector’s deadline, Anderson could not say for certain what caused the fire. She said the most probable explanation was “spontaneous heating” among the tightly bound hay. She encouraged people with stored hay to monitor for internal heat and to avoid tightly stacking hay when it is still moist. 

No people or animals were hurt in the fire, which Jansen described as a blessing given that less than a month earlier the barn housed 800 cows before they were sold on June 24. 

“No one was hurt; no animals were lost. That’s most important,” she said.  

End of an era 

Dawdy, a longtime friend of the Kennedy family, said the “Kennedy Farm” is a well known and long standing staple of Ridgefield. 

When news — and the smell — of the fire began to spread across the countryside, friends and neighbors began showing up to help. 

Dawdy described the Kennedy family as a pillar in the community and said that for folks in Ridgefield, this was sadly symbolic given that the family plans to soon close the dairy business. 

“The Kennedy family is a well-loved family,” he said.