Liz Pontious was doing homework Friday afternoon when she heard her father-in-law Glen call for help, yelling that a barn on the property was on fire.
"I ran down there with buckets filled with water," Liz said, but it was quickly apparent more would be required, so she called 9-1-1. The blaze erupted around 3 p.m. in a 25-by-50-foot barn that was half-loaded with hay. Duncan firefighters responded to control the flames.
"There was a guy mowing his lawn with a brush cutter, and he might have picked up something that caused a spark," Duncan fire chief Mike McKinlay said.
The Duncan hall sent 21 members, who were on the scene for about two and a half hours to make sure the fire was out.
They also called on the Cowichan Bay fire department to provide tenders.
The barn was torn down by the farm owners, but nothing else was damaged by the fire.
"Normally our camper's in there," Liz said, expressing relief that it was instead parked beside the house.
She said there are also normally pigs and cows close by, but not on Friday.