A barn that housed 75 cattle near Cottam has been destroyed by fire.

The blaze broke out around 11 a.m. Saturday in the 1800 block of County Road 8.

"When I got here she was a good blaze. It probably had 30 to 40 foot flames coming out of her," says Scott Smith, who owns a family farm. “Me and my brother bought this last year off a family friend. I'm kind of sad to see it go. A lot of memories there. Not much you can do about it now.”

The Kingsville Fire Department blames an electrical failure for the cause of the fire that caused $175,000 in damage.

Fire Chief Chuck Parsons says the fire was so strong crews from Lakeshore and Essex were called in to help.

He says a limited water supply meant they could only do so much.

"The smoke could be seen from a long distance. We did have a lot of smoke once the barn took hold. And when our second crews arrived it was fully involved so it was an external burn at that time. We were able to bring that aerial in which allowed us to get over top and put it out from over top," he says, but noting the barn was then lost.

No injuries were reported and all of the cattle were removed.