A fire tore through one of Western Canada’s largest hog farms last week, killing more than 2,400 sows and their litters.
The Sept. 17 fire near Rivers, Man., was so fierce that a water bomber was called in to help control the blaze. Two hog barns were lost in the fire.
“It was just an inferno there,” said Dennis Jahns, fire chief for the Rivers and district fire department. “We couldn’t get anywhere near it.”
The fire began at about 2:30 p.m. It was brought under control four hours later with the help of the water bomber, three fire departments and a nearby Hutterite colony.
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Jahns did not have an estimate of the damages by Sept. 20, but he believes it will cost the owner, Hangar Farms Inc., millions of dollars to replace the lost livestock and buildings.
“There was a couple of hundred hogs that survived,” he said, “but they’re not in very good shape.”
The fire was thought to be accidental, but was still under investigation as of Sept. 20. No one was injured.
The two barns lost to the fire were hangars at a former air force base in the area.
The owners had converted the hangars into sow barns.
