By Shay Lelonek / Asst. News Director

MELROSE TWP., Minn. — No people or animals were injured in an early morning barn fire on Sunday.

Around 7 a.m. on April 20, 2025, the Stearns County Emergency Communications Center received a call of a building fire at a house on County Road 169 in Melrose Township.

The night before, the resident, 53-year-old James Mueller, parked s kid steer in the cattle barn at approximately 9:30 p.m.

The following morning, he was alerted by a neighbor that smoke was seen coming from the vents of the cattle barn. When Mueller when to check, he found the skid steer fully engulfed in flames.

Deputies arrived and were able to remove and extinguish the skid steer before further damage occurred.

The cause of the fire is unknown at this time and remains under investigation.