Fire destroys barn at Sandy Pines Wildlife Centre in Napanee

It’s a devastating loss for a local organization that helps injured and abandoned wildlife animals. A barn at the Sandy Pines Wildlife Centre in Napanee went up in flames on Friday.

The nearly 25-year-old building was used to house rescued farm animals. A pig and rabbit perished in the blaze.

“I was going to the barn at about 11 a.m. and I saw smoke coming out of the door. I called 911 and by the time the fire department got here, which was pretty quick, it was up in smoke, said Sue Meech, the director of the centre.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "I was going to the barn at about 11 a.m. and I saw smoke coming out of the door. I called 911 and by the time the fire department got here, which was pretty quick, it was up in smoke, said Sue Meech, the director of the centre.

The Greater Napanee Fire Department was helped out by crews from Deseronto as well as Stone Mills. The barn was full of hay and straw, not easy materials to deal with especially on an extremely cold day.

“We’re having problems with the breathing apparatus, they’re freezing up,” said John Koenig, the deputy fire chief in Napanee. “We’re changing packs and sending them back to the fire hall to thaw out, then bringing back dry packs. We’re rotating packs and people at this time.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "We're having problems with the breathing apparatus, they're freezing up," said John Koenig, the deputy fire chief in Napanee. "We're changing packs and sending them back to the fire hall to thaw out, then bringing back dry packs. We're rotating packs and people at this time."

The centre is now looking for donations of hay and straw. Contact Sandy Pines via their Facebook page or directly by email at sandypineswildlife.org or sandypines@gmail.com.