The New Castle News reports firefighters responded about 11:30 a.m. Tuesday when a 20-by-20-foot smokehouse caught fire in the yard of Cash Koszela, a retired meat cutter who's been smoking his own sausage for about 30 years.
Firefighters say some grease from the meat caught fire when the smokehouse got too hot - about 300 degrees.
Koszela says it will cost about $3,000 to replace the smokehouse, which is actually a tin-lined, walk-in cooler fed by smoke piped in from a fire pit.
Assistant fire chief David Joseph says, "This is definitely the best-smelling fire we've seen in a long time."
