Back to back barn fires last week killed 450 dairy cows and 5,000 pigs near La Broquerie in southeastern Manitoba.
The first fire destroyed the Hausammann and Sons dairy farm, causing an estimated $10 million in damage, said Alain Nadeau, the community’s fire chief.
The second fire razed three pig barns, resulting in a loss of about $6 million.
The cause of the hog barn fire is unknown, Nadeau said, but the dairy barn fire was caused by an electrical malfunction.
Rudy Hausammann, one of the owners of the dairy, told the Winnipeg Sun the fire incinerated the barns and attached buildings.
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“Within 10 minutes, the first barn was already totally down and the rest of the buildings, it took about half an hour or 45 minutes to burn everything down,” said Hausammann. He has plans to rebuild the operation, which was insured.
Hausammann was able to save 30 calves from the fire. A neighbour is taking care of those animals.
Teresa Ciccarelli, a spokesperson for Dairy Farmers of Manitoba, said dairy barn fires are rare in Manitoba. The last fire at a dairy was in 2004 near Marquette, Man.
The two fires made a stressful week for the La Broquerie Fire Department and other firefighters in the region, Nadeau said.
“There was a total of four different departments at both calls,” he said. “We had back to back fires a couple of years ago. But it was 30 days apart, it wasn’t five days like this.”
Earlier this year, Manitoba’s Fire Commissioner submitted recommendations for a farm building code to Manitoba Labour and Immigration minister Jennifer Howard.
However, animal welfare organizations have criticized the proposed codes because they will only apply to new farm buildings, not existing hog barns and other agri-industrial structures across the province.
