LODA — Iroquois County authorities are working with the state fire marshal's office to investigate two barn fires they believe were intentionally set near Loda Wednesday night.

Harold Ecker, chief of the Loda Fire Protection District, said two barns containing bales of hay were reported ablaze on a farm east of Loda around 8:20 p.m. The barns, about a quarter of a mile from each other on County Road 300 North, were burning simultaneously, and were fully engulfed when firefighters arrived, Ecker said.

Iroquois County Sheriff Derek Hagen and investigator Eric Starkey said the sheriff's office is investigating the fires as an arson case. The sheriff's office is working with the state fire marshal's office, which is expected to send an arson investigator to the scene and conduct interviews Friday, Hagen said.

"Any time you have two fires that close to each other, there's always a suspicion of what caused it," Hagen said.

Hagen said the fire marshal's office will be interviewing the owner of the farm property, Eric Kaeb, and some of his relatives. But Hagen stressed the persons to be interviewed are not considered suspects.

"I don't know if there's anybody at this point we could identify as a person of interest, but I know that's kind of our focus right now is talking to family members of the property owner," Hagen said.

Kaeb was not home at the time the fires started on his farm, Ecker said, but had arrived sometime between when the first call was made to dispatchers and when the first firefighters arrived.

A neighbor reported one of the fires, according to Hagen, and the other fire was reported minutes later by a passerby.

The Loda fire department had just left the fire station in Loda en route to the first fire, at a barn at 781 E. County Road 300 North Road, when the second barn fire was reported about a quarter-mile west of that address, Ecker said.

The fire at 781 E. 300 North was near a home, another barn and some tool sheds, Ecker said. The other fire was at a barn that was surrounded by pasture, Ecker said.

"On our way to the scene we came across the first barn, which was the one at 750, and then the initial trucks (responding) went on to the other one, because of the house and stuff," Ecker said.

Loda firefighters then called for help from fire departments in Paxton, Buckley and Cissna Park, Ecker said. In all, an estimated 50 firefighters responded, with 25 fighting each blaze.

It took "at least an hour" to get the fires under control, Ecker said. Firefighters remained on scene until about 1 a.m.

Both barns were destroyed, Ecker said, and the cause and origin of the fires remains undetermined.

Iroquois County Crimestoppers offers a reward of up to $1,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction. Tips can be made anonymously to Crimestoppers by calling 815-432-7463 or calling Starkey at 815-432-6992.