A St. Joseph County girl faced a raging fire to save lives Monday morning after her family's barn caught fire with 45 beloved animals inside. 14-year-old Sara Holderbaum had competed in local fairs for years with many of the 25 sheep and 20 bunnies inside the barn.

“I knew there were animals in the barn so I went to the side where my bunnies and sheep were penned in. I let the sheep out and chased them so I knew they were out of the barn,” Holderbaum said after saving all of her sheep and three of her bunnies.

Although fire officials urge people not to run into burning buildings, Holderbaum’s family says there was no stopping Sara.

“That is Sara, animals are a love of hers. She just loves every animal, really everything that crawls. She would do that,” Sara’s grandmother Janet Holderman said as she took a moment to laugh.

The fire started Monday just after 10 a.m. in the 64000 block of Beech Road. The timber structure of the building caused fire crews to upgrade to a 2nd alarm.

“The heavy timber burns very hot. A fire like this on such a hot day made us call in more resources,” Penn Township Fire Chief John Vanbruaene said.

In total, five departments responded with more than 30 firefighters. It took crews nearly an hour to gain control of the smoke and flames. Fire officials were not immediately sure what caused the blaze that destroyed the farm originally built in 1887.

The Holderman family bought the farm in 1972. Since then the home’s been passed down through generations and a source of many memories.

"I kind of grew attached to it, I grew up in there, I played in there, I raised my animals in there,” Sara added.