Staff at a north Okanagan farm jumped into action this weekend to evacuate 100 animals after one of their buildings caught fire.
Fire crews found a tractor and barn in flames when they arrived at Vale Farms on Dure Meadow Road near Lumby just after 6:30 p.m. on Saturday.
“There was a tractor that was plugged in in front of the barn. Whether it started in the tractor and moved to the barn, that’s still being investigated,” said Don Hladych, one of the owners of Vale Farms.
Fire crews worked on the blaze for hours in difficult conditions.
“The big concern was it spreading over to the milking parlor area,” said Lumby Fire Chief Tony Clayton.
“It was roughly -20, it was cold…Our breathing apparatuses were freezing up faster than we could keep them thawed out.”
Crews were able to contain the blaze to one corner of the barn. Hladych said he feels “quite lucky” that the blaze did not spread further and that no humans or animals were injured.
In fact, with the milk house on the opposite corner of the barn spared, they were able to resume dairy operations the next morning.
Some of the animals are still recovering.
“We have a couple of calves that have pretty bad pneumonia but we are treating those and looking after them,” said Hladych.
The tractor was destroyed in the fire and wasn’t insured, but the barn was and the farm will rebuild the structure.
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