Brings the total of January barn fires to five
By Diego Flammini
Assistant Editor, North American Content
Farms.com
Ontario’s farming community is reeling after three more barn fires over the weekend – bringing the total number of recent barn fires in Ontario to five and all within a span of about two weeks.
The first occurred at an empty barn in Georgetown at Ninth Line and 5 Sideroad around 5 a.m. Saturday morning.
Two barns and a vacant home are located on the property and the smaller of the two burnt. There were no animals inside the barn but there was cattle outside.
The second weekend barn fire happened at a farm near Delaware on Sunday morning.
When firefighters arrived around 6 a.m. they found the barn engulfed in flames.
Approximately 500 milking goats and 30 cattle were lost in the blaze and damage is estimated to be around $2 million.
The third weekend fire occurred Sunday afternoon in Flamborough.
When Hamilton firefighters arrived just after 12:30 p.m., they found heavy smoke and fire coming out of a building.
There were six tractors and other equipment inside the building, but no livestock.
The damage is estimated at $100,000.
With the fires that occurred over the weekend, the total number of farm or barn fires in Ontario is now five.
On Jan. 5, a fire in Puslinch claimed the lives of 43 Standardbred horses and a Mount Forest barn fire on Jan. 14 killed 13 Arabian horses.