SLIPPERY ROCK TWP — Three riding lawn mowers and a farm tractor were destroyed Wednesday afternoon when the garage they were in burned down, authorities said.

Owner John Resek said that backfire from one of the mowers started the fire at the detached garage at his home in the 400 block of Kiester Road. No one was injured.

The fire ignited about 2 p.m. and spread quickly.

“When we pulled out (of fire station) we could see the smoke in the air,” said Albert Taggart, assistant chief for the Slippery Rock Volunteer Fire Company.

Moments earlier, Resek had pulled into the garage on a mower just four or five years old. While shutting it off, it backfired.

“I was just getting ready to get off the seat when I looked down and saw a light underneath (the mower),” he said. He realized it was on fire.

Resek immediately removed a gas can from the garage before he and his wife, Grace, tried to pull the burning mower out of the 16-foot-by-32-foot wood garage covered in vinyl siding.

“But the doggone building was so far gone that we couldn’t get it out,” Resek said.

The couple also dumped a couple buckets of water on the fire but to no avail.

The garage, about 100 feet from the couple’s home, was up in flames by the time firefighters got there.

Taggart said firefighters were able to save two sheds just several feet in back of the garage.

Damage to the garage and its contents was estimated at $30,000. The property is insured, Resek said.

Along with the mowers and tractor, lost was a lime spreader, lawn roller, rototiller and assorted tools.

The Slippery Rock VFC was assisted by Harrisville and Unionville firefighters. Crews were there until nearly 3:30 p.m.