Shortly after 3:00 a.m. this morning thirty-five firefighters from five stations were called to a barn fire on Southgate Road in Mount Forest.

Wellington North Fire Chief Dave Guilbault said when they arrived the wooden barn was engulfed in flames.

“It took several hours to knock the main body of the fire down you can see the size of the building and it was full of wood inside the building as well he had wood stored for probably a couple of years,” said Guilbault.

Officials say someone passing by on the street called 911 to alert them after seeing flames and smoke shooting into the sky.

Initialy, there were concerns that the strong winds would push the fire to a nearby butcher shop and barn that housed chickens and horses.

Early this morning, both the OPP and Ontario Fire Marshal were called in to investigate.

“As you are aware there's been numerous fires in Southwestern Ontario there's been far too many and that's why we have the fire marshal here and the OPP forensics to make sure we're not missing anything when we're investigating these fires,” said Guilbault.

It was later determined that the fire was accidently caused by the barn's owner setting charcoal down on top of a wooden table.

Damage is estimated at $400,000 dollars.