Exploding rounds of ammunition kept firefighters wary as they battled a barn fire in West Lampeter Township on Sunday night.

Lampeter Fire Company Chief Sean Alexander said no one was injured by the ammunition or the fire at 961 Village Road.

"It was going off when we got here," Alexander said of the ammunition. "It was a danger, but it luckily didn't hurt anybody."

Homeowner Rhonda Chaney said her family had been cooking food on a grill kept behind the two-story brick-and-wood barn.

The grill was positioned against a brick section of the barn and apparently ignited wood above the brick.

The family was inside the house eating dinner shortly after 7 p.m. when  neighbors started yelling that the barn was on fire, Chaney said.

"We looked out and saw smoke coming out of the building," neighbor Dave Fisher said. "A couple of us started pulling gas cans and propane tanks out of there, and then we heard the ammunition start exploding."

Mrs. Chaney said her husband, who is a hunter and a former Marine, stored ammunition on the barn's second floor. The ammunition exploded as the second floor became engulfed in flames.

Firefighters sprayed water on the barn from the outside until the ammunition stopped exploding, Alexander said.

"We couldn't go inside, so we just basically poured on as much water as we could from everywhere," he said.

Once the ammunition stopped exploding, firefighters ventured inside and quickly extinguished the flames.

Alexander ruled the fire accidental. He did not have a damage estimate Sunday night.

"Everything of value is still here," Chaney said, referring to her family. "All that stuff can be replaced."

preilly@lnpnews.com