The fire near Rosetown, Sask. occurred Friday night
By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com
A fire at a farm near Rosetown, Sask. claimed the lives of nearly 12,000 pigs Friday night.
The Rosetown Fire Department responded to the call at Eagle Creek Farm, which is owned by Olymel, around midnight.
When the firefighters arrived, a 130,000 square foot barn was completely engulfed in flames. About 1,200 sows and more than 10,000 piglets perished in the fire.
The barn was “virtually a complete loss by the time we got on scene,” Dennis Ogg, chief of the Rosetown Fire Department, told the Saskatoon StarPhoenix yesterday.
But an employee prevented firefighters rom trying to extinguish the blaze.
Scott McIntosh, a senior mill technician, instructed firefighters to stay away from the fire to ensure their safety, CBC reports.
“I pulled them back from a fire that was out of control and not clearly visible,” McIntosh told CBC yesterday. “The flames were 80-feet high and obscured by thick, black smoke caused by animals burning.
“I told them, ‘I need you guys to get back, it’s unsafe. Get to the road.’ And they complied. We would’ve had dead firefighters if I had not done what I did.”
Olymel is investigating why the employee, who has since been terminated, stopped firefighters.
“We are of the belief, of course, that a fire department should have full access to the site to deal with the fire,” Casey Smit, vice-president of swine production for Olymel’s Western Canada division, told CBC yesterday.
None of the farm’s 12 employees were injured during the fire. Olymel will reassign them to different locations.
The Provincial Fire Commissioner is investigating the cause of the blaze, which Olymel estimates to be in the millions of dollars.
The company may go through its insurance company to rebuild, Smit told CBC.
Darrel Morrisson/Rosetown Fire Department logo