Our condolences go out to this Pennsylvania community after losing a long time farmer and owner of a popular farmer’s market stand in a barn fire Saturday. According to The Daily Item, Roger R. Billig, 51, died in the Northumberland County fire on Saturday evening after suffering from smoke inhalation.
The Elysburg Fire Department reports that they responded just before 7 p.m. to the fully involved barn fire on Rushtown Road. The fire spread from a roadside barn to a second farm building as well as a shed and a semi-trailer. Crews worked on scene for nearly seven hours. In total, 33 units responded from a three county radius.
A long-time friend told The Morning Call that Billig, who owned and operated Red Barn Produce since 1985, was what Paul Harvey’s “So God Made a Farmer” was all about.
