Franktown Fire Prevention District firefighters fought a fully engulfed barn fire on Wednesday morning, just six weeks since another barn fire struck Douglas County.

And just seven weeks since a Franktown barn fire killed nine horses.

Firefighters extinguished a fire in a 15-by-15-foot barn around 2:30 a.m. Wednesday, according to a social media post by the District. The barn is located in the area of Ponderosa Lane and Flintwood Road in unincorporated Douglas County. 

The department reported that no one was harmed and the fire did not extend to the nearby residence. It was quickly put out. 

On Nov. 27, a barn fire raged around eight miles away in the area of North Russellville Road and north Colorado Highway 83 (Parker Road), killing nine horses and destroying a $2.4 million arena and stable complex.

“They house hay, straw, and wood. It’s been a long time since we’ve suffered or seen anything like this,” Franktown Fire Chief Dave Woodrick said following the fire.

Woodrick noted that the area is so rural there was no fire hydrant, so two fire trucks had to make trips transporting 50,000 gallons of water in an effort to douse flames which had engulfed the buildings.

Investigators with the Franktown, the ATF, the Colorado Fire Prevention and Control and the Douglas County Sheriffs began investigating the cause of the fire. 

A Franktown Fire Protection District spokesperson told The Denver Gazette on Wednesday that the two fires are “not connected with each other,” and that investigators are still looking into the cause of the November fire. 

As for the small barn fire on Wednesday, the fire department is “narrowing down the cause of this morning’s fire to either heating or electrical in nature. The fire was unintentional in nature,” according to the spokesperson.

A third barn fire also occurred in Douglas County on Dec. 4 on Patty Lane, near Jordan and Hess roads in Parker, around 11 miles from Wednesday’s fire. 

Similar to the Nov. 27 fire, no fire hydrants were on this road and South Metro Fire Rescue firefighters had to truck in water 3,000 gallons at a time. 

SMFR told The Denver Gazette that the cause of the fire was undetermined, but it was believed to be accidental. They said they were confident the fires were unrelated to the December one.

“Unfortunately, this time of year does see an uptick of barn fires with common causes being heat source or electrical related,” Franktown Fire Prevention said in a subsequent social media post.