FAIRHAVEN, Mass. (WHDH) -- A barn in Fairhaven went up in flames Wednesday morning.

Raging flames that shot 20 feet into the air destroyed a barn and an office building at the family-owned G. Bourne Knowles Landscaping Company.

“I was originally going to try to put it out, but then I took one more look at it and I said, ‘No it’s not going to go out with anything we’ve got,’” said G. Bourne Knowles III, the owner of the landscaping company.

Knowles said he smelled smoke when he arrived Wednesday morning, but thought it was wood-burning stoves from nearby houses. The next thing he knew the barn was on fire.

“I was in the greenhouse…looked over my shoulder and saw the flames coming out the roof,” said Knowles.

Investigators have not determined the cause of the fire, but they don’t think it fits the profile of the large number of suspicious fires on in southeastern Massachusetts.

“This is not an abandoned building. This building is occupied. They’ve just lost a lot of equipment, including heavy equipment trucks, stuff that were in the building. This building is occupied every single day,” said Chief Timothy Francis of the Fairhaven Fire Department.

It was also an emotional loss for the owner. He said the bar was a historic structure dating back to the mid or possibly early 1800s where ice was processed.

“It was all post and beam -- it was a classic barn. I think the way the thing happened is obviously very discouraging,” said Knowles.

Even though the fire has not been determined suspicious, the fire marshal is asking anyone who may have seen something that could help determine the cause of the fire to call the state arson hotline at 1-800-682-9229.