There was no luck of the Irish for Oxford Township resident Darrell Enneking as an early morning fire destroyed his small wooden barn on St. Patrick’s Day.
Oxford firefighters were called to Enneking’s 3131 W. Drahner Rd. home ? just west of Coats Rd. on Pine Lake ? at 3:10 a.m. after neighbors Dave Hilty and Ann Marie O’Neill spotted the blaze.
‘Their bedroom window looks right at it,? said Enneking, who’s lived here more than 20 years. ‘My wife and I were sound asleep. We didn’t hear or see anything.?
Enneking, who owns the Indianwood Junction Party Store in Orion Township, didn’t know his barn was on fire until Oakland County Sheriff’s deputies rang his doorbell.
‘We walked up there and it was pretty much smoke and ashes by then,? Enneking said. ‘It had been going pretty good.?
Fire Chief Pete Scholz said the barn didn’t last long after he arrived.
‘When I got there, the structure was still standing, but it was totally involved in flames,? he said.
By the time firefighters dragged the hose from the road to the scene of the blaze, which took all of five minutes, the barn was ‘basically on the ground.?
‘It went really fast,? Scholz said.
The chief noted, ‘We had to park out on the road because there was no access to it.?
Located about 100 yards away from his home, the barn was a 420-square-foot structure that Enneking used to store miscellaneous items.
‘Nothing of value ? just oddball things, basically,? he said.
The cause of the fire has yet to be determined. Scholz noted although the barn had access to utilities, both the electricity and natural gas had been previously shut off.