Firefighters from three area departments worked to put out a barn fire in a residential neighborhood in Marshall on Thursday afternoon. The barn was located behind a home near the corner of East Lyon Street and E Street.

MARSHALL — It was an unusual situation, Marshall Fire Chief Quentin Brunsvold said.

“We rarely fight barn fires in city limits,” Brunsvold said. The barn fire reported in a residential neighborhood in Marshall brought its own challenges. But firefighters from Marshall, Ghent and Cottonwood did put out the flames.

Shortly before noon Thursday, the Marshall Fire Department received a call of a fire in a barn located on a property near the corner of East Lyon Street and E Street in Marshall. The property owner was using the barn for a woodworking shop and wood storage, Brunsvold said. The fire started when a hot ember got into a dust collector in the shop area, he said.

Brunsvold said the fire spread a little into the barn rafters, but was mostly contained near its area of origin. That area, in a lean-to structure on the east side of the barn, had more damage, he said.

The Marshall Fire Department had mutual aid from the Ghent and Cottonwood Fire Departments, as well as North Memorial Ambulance and the Marshall Police Department. Ghent and Cottonwood firefighters were able to provide manpower to help rotate with Marshall firefighters, Brunsvold said.

Brunsvold said the barn’s location brought an unusual mix of conditions for firefighters. Barn fire calls normally come from outside the city, and one of the main challenges in responding to them is getting enough water out to the scene. However, Thursday’s fire wasn’t far from Marshall city hydrants.

“We were able to get water on the fire really fast,” Brunsvold said.

“The hard part is, we don’t know what the layout (of the barn) is,” he said. That could make it more difficult for firefighters to locate and get at the fire inside the burning structure. “We relied on the homeowner and his family to tell us where to open it up.”

Firefighters were at the scene for about three hours, Brunsvold said.

“I’m proud of all of our mutual aid partners and our own staff,” he said. Responders worked to salvage as much from the barn as they could, he said.