Seventh Ontario farm fire in January
By Diego Flammini
Assistant Editor, North American Content
Farms.com
In the latest barn fire to strike an Ontario farm, nearly 200 pigs were lost in a blaze near Stratford on Saturday, Jan. 23.
About 2,000 pigs were kept in the barn on Line 49 near Monkton, and if it weren’t for the fire crews and other farmers, the damage would have been much worse.
Firefighters cut a hole in the roof for easier access to the flames and community farmers assisted in corralling the pigs; it took fire crews about five hours to put out the blaze.
A majority of the barn remains intact. The estimated damage is unknown and a cause has not been determined.
The Saturday fire in Stratford brings the total number of fires to hit Ontario farms in January to seven.
- Jan. 5 – 43 Standardbred horses killed in a barn fire in Puslinch
- Jan. 14 – 13 Arabian horses killed in a barn fire in Mount Forest
- Jan. 16 – Empty barn burns in Georgetown
- Morning of Jan. 17 – Barn fire near Delaware kills 500 milking goats and nearly 30 cattle
- Afternoon of Jan. 17 – Six tractors and other equipment destroyed in a barn fire in Flamborough
- Jan. 19 – Barn fire in Parkhill kills nearly 2,000 pigs. Damages estimated at $1.1 million
Barn fires can be preventable but implementing the equipment can be a challenge in itself.
“I can pretty safely say you’re going to double the cost of your building,” said Steve Adema, Director of Engineering for Tacoma Engineers when asked about installing sprinklers inside barns. “If you figure that by the time you add on-site water storage, plus a back-up generator, pump system and all the other associated costs.”
Smoke alarms with the ability to connect to smartphones are available, but staying connected can sometimes prove tricky.
“We have smoke alarms that connect to our smartphone from our house,” said Ashley Lewis, who owns a 22-acre farm with her husband in Caledon, Ontario. “Our challenge in our barn is that the wifi doesn’t reach and the models we have tested don’t do well or stop working in the winter.”
More strategies for preventing barn fires can be found by consulting the OMAFRA publication Reducing The Risk Of Fire On Your Farm.