STAND OFF, Alta. – A suspicious fire on the Blood Reserve over the weekend caused millions of dollars in damage and continued to burn Tuesday afternoon. Fire crews from Lethbridge, Nobleford and Fort Macleod helped the Blood Tribe Fire Department control the blaze.
“When we were called it was a very small fire. Of course, Stand Off being 20 minutes away, the fire was almost fully involved when we got here,” explained Oscar Cotton, the fire chief for the Blood Tribe Fire Department.
The fire, which damaged a hay shed containing premium hay export valued at $2.1 million, was reported just before midnight on Friday. The facility is worth over $1 million and total damage is pegged at over $3 million.
The forage plant is the Blood Tribe’s second-largest employer with hundreds of staff. The plant exports hay to international markets like Japan. The plant runs 24 hours a day, five days a week and pushes about 30 containers a week.
“Japan, in the north, central and south,” said Calvin Cross Child, the general manager for the Blood Tribe Agriculture Project. “We also move containers to the Middle East and we send some to the United Kingdom.”
This is the second fire in two months, after the Blood Reserve at Red Crow College went up in flames in August. Authorities also treated that fire as suspicious and it was later found to be set deliberately.
Comments