The cleanup has begun at a pig farm in Quinte West. After an incubator caught fire inside a barn on Tuesday and quickly spread. By the time fire crews arrived, the damage was done.
“It’s an accidental fire,” Quinte West Fire Chief, John Whelan said. “I’m glad no one was injured, and again, it wasn’t a nice scene to be at with those poor animals crying out for help.”
The farm’s owner, Greg Barr, said everything happened so quickly that it was hard to remember what was going through his head as his barn burned to the ground.
“I was here,” he said. “But I was running around, standing in the laneway, doing things to keep people safe.”
It was originally thought that all 12,000 pigs had perished in the fire. However, the owner of the barn said about two to 300 may have survived — those that did survive are being moved to another barn in nearby Campbellford.
Barr has owned this farm for the past three years, breeding several breeds of pig, selling them to clients across Eastern Ontario and Quebec.
While cleaning up is his top priority for now, after that, he’s not sure.
“I’m insured,” he added. “I gotta just deal with the pigs we still have for now.”
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