GARNETT — A weekend fire on Ron Ratliff’s farm west of Garnett left the 51-year-old farmer and sale barn owner hospitalized with more than a third of his body covered in burns.
The Ottawa Herald reported earlier this week that at about 1 a.m. Sunday Ratliff and his wife were awakened at their home — 23474 Northwest 1700 Road — by a series of explosions that occurred after a hay barn on the farm had been engulfed in flames.
Ratliff ran into the barn in an attempt to salvage equipment but the heat from the blaze was so intense, melting the barn’s metal beams, it caused burns on his hands and arms above the elbows, on his legs below the knees and on his back.
Ratliff was airlifted to the University of Kansas Medical Center’s burn unit where he is being treated primarily for second-degree burns.
The victim’s wife told the Herald her husband could spend up to six week at the KU hospital.
The fire reportedly broke out in the back of the metal barn after being sparked by an electrical malfunction. Firefighters from Garnett, Harris, Westphalia, Welda and Lane battled the blaze from about 1 a.m. until noon Sunday.
Ratliff is the owner of Anderson County Sales Company and owns and operates the sale barn in Garnett.
