Tarboro, N.C. — A barn that has been in a Tarboro family for more than 100 years was destroyed Wednesday afternoon in a fire that quickly consumed the wooden structure.

Blair Levine, whose great grandfather built the barn on Thigpen Road, said her kids were going outside to play when they saw flames at the top of the building and called 911.

No one was hurt in the blaze, but the family lost old furniture and other items that were inside.

"We tried to grab as much as we could," said Brittany Levine, 18. "We had sentimental furniture stored in there. We were very upset about the fire because that building meant a lot to us."

Blair Levine said firefighters told her they think rodents may have chewed through wiring at top of the barn, sparking the blaze. The fire burned from the top down, leaving the building a charred, smoking hulk.

Blair Levine said the barn was important to her late grandfather, Hassell Thigpen, a former county commissioner.

"He was a person who just gave and gave and gave, and he was sentimental over everything," she said. "We kind of feel like he's looking down and he's sad."

Brittany Levine credited firefighters for extinguishing the blaze before it spread to nearby structures.