Manitoba town loses grain elevator

Oct 16, 2023

The St. Jean Baptiste elevator burned down over the weekend

By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com

Top photo: Eugene Phillion

Residents of a Manitoba town are mourning the loss of its historic grain elevator.

The St. Jean Baptiste elevator, which opened in August 1951 with a 40,000-bushel capacity and underwent multiple renovations during its lifetime, burned down on Saturday.

“I’m still a little bit shocked,” Nathan Sabourin told CBC. “I was very proud to have the company in the town here.”

Sabourin co-owns NuVision Commodities, a grain handling company that’s owned the elevator since 2003.

Firefighters received information around 3 a.m. on Saturday morning that a fire started at the elevator on Caron Street, that employed 13 people. The facility was full of grain at the time of the fire.

Eight fire departments and up to 100 firefighters responded to the call.

“My fire department came on scene with four members and they knew they couldn’t fight this fire,” Eugene Fillion, chief of the St. Jean Baptiste fire department, told CTV. “I’ve been here for 38 years born and raised, and this might be one of my biggest (fires). But the best part of it: nobody got hurt.”

Prairie communities have lost multiple grain elevators in recent years.

In December 2022, for example, a fire destroyed an elevator in Bentley, Alta.

And Saskatchewan communities lost grain elevators in November 2016 and November 2017.

When these buildings go up in flames, part of the town’s identity does too, said Paul Gilmore, reeve of the rural municipality of Montcalm, where St. Jean Baptiste is located.

“It’s part of our history,” he told CBC. “It’s been there for a long time.”

The elevator has been part of the community for 72 years.

In 1951, local farmers convinced William Parker, the president of the Manitoba Pool, to build the elevator.

The elevator received a six-bin annex in 1952, and another crib annex in 1955. It underwent a complete renovation in 1971, and three steel bins went up next to the elevator in 1991 before track capacity was expanded in 1994.

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