UNITY — A fire Saturday evening destroyed a barn used to store farm equipment at the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association’s educational center in Unity, according to officials.

The organization’s executive director, Sarah Alexander, said Tuesday that no one was at the 294 Crosby Brook Road campus on Saturday evening, so it’s unclear when the fire broke out. A passerby, Alexander said, called in the fire at about 6 p.m.

Fire crews from Unity, Albion, Freedom, Troy and Thorndike arrived soon after to fight the blaze, but the barn was completely engulfed in flames.

Unity Fire Chief Blaine Parsons said in a news release Tuesday that despite their best efforts, the crews’ firefighting was hindered by high winds and “the open concept of the structure.”

The barn, a 40-foot-by-80-foot single-story structure with a wood frame and metal roofing, was declared a “total loss,” Parsons said. Crews cleared the scene at about 9 p.m.

“The fire was really too far along by the time they arrived,” said Alexander. “We’re thankful that it was just the property, … no people or animals or anything.”

Parsons said the fire investigation has been turned over to the Office of Maine State Fire Marshal, as the cause is still unclear.

“The best guess is that it was potentially some sort of electrical fire,” said Alexander.

Alexander said that MOFGA has several barns on their campus that are primarily used as livestock barns during the annual Common Ground Country Fair, which returned in-person last September after a two-year hiatus caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the off-season, Alexander said the barns are used for equipment storage.

“There was at least one car, three tractors and several tractor attachments destroyed, as well as many hand tools and various farm equipment lost in the blaze,” said Parsons.

Alexander said the various farm equipment destroyed included tools, wheelbarrows, wagons and tillers. Nothing was salvageable.

Alexander said it is even hard to make out what equipment was actually in the barn, because much of it melted together or was damaged beyond recognition.

“It’ll be an ongoing process in the coming days to really assess the damage, … but we’ll have to fully replace and rebuild the barn,” said Alexander. “It was a pretty big surprise.”

With the long weekend over, Alexander said MOFGA will work with their insurance company to estimate their losses, find out what will be covered and move forward with rebuilding the barn and replacing the destroyed equipment.

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