CENTRAL NEW YORK -- "I looked up and I saw a bellow of smoke coming up from about a half mile away."

Ken Raymond says he was chopping fire wood Wednesday afternoon in Pennellville when he saw a fire consuming the Chesbro family's main barn.

"Very intense. I was probably 125 yards away and the wind was blowing away from me and I could feel the heat from the barn," said Raymond.

Raymond says crews quickly arrived, but the fire chief says flames killed about a dozen cows and spread across the nearby land.

"With the field being as dry as it was, it ignited the fields pretty quickly and we had to call in a lot of other resources just to fight that fire," said Pennellville Fire Chief Richard Buck.

The Oswego County Fire Coordinator says crews have responded to several grass fires over the past few days. The county went under a burn ban Tuesday.

"Daytime power at a volunteer fire service is a very valuable asset and what's happening is we're emptying out a lot of communities to handle a grass fire in one community," said Oswego County Fire Coordinator John Hinds.

Officials say the fire started from a piece of equipment in the main barn, but because of the conditions, it spread quickly and demanded many resources. That's exactly why officials say the burn ban is in place and should be followed.

"Don't burn. The ban is going to be on for several more days. We will re-evaluate as time goes on, once we have some rain and conditions change, we'll lift the ban," Hinds said.

Burn bans also remain in effect in Jefferson and St. Lawrence counties.

And also Wednesday, burning may have caused a fire that destroyed a pavilion in Lysander in Onondaga County.

Back in Pennellville, neighbors say the Chesbros are dealing with the loss of their livestock and some of their livelihood.

"They've been in the community a long time. To see something like that happen is very devastating," said Raymond.