BETHEL – A garden hose placed too close to a light bulb sent firefighters Tuesday night to a reported barn fire at Intervale and East Bethel roads.

When the first firefighter arrived at the John Coolidge farm, he soon realized the building wasn’t ablaze, fire Chief Mike Jodrey said.

There was just a little smoke showing.

“It sounded a lot worse than what it was,” Jodrey said Wednesday morning. “Thank God it wasn’t.”

Seeing scant smoke, the firefighter investigated and found a melted green vinyl garden hose and blackened pink insulation in the barn.

“They had the light bulb on to keep water in the hose from freezing, because they use the hose to water the animals,” Jodrey said.

Temperatures dipped below freezing on Tuesday night.