1,500 hogs die in barn fire at Manitoba pork producer HyLife
CBC News | Posted: March 26, 2015 12:44 AM | Last Updated: March 26, 2015
Hundreds of hogs were killed in a barn fire in the community of Kola, Man. near the Saskatchewan border.
Thirty firefighters in total from Virden, Elkhorn, and Maryfield, Sask., fought the blaze that broke out around 10 p.m. Tuesday at a hog barn owned by pork producer HyLife.
Virden fire Chief Brad Yochim said when crews arrived at the scene, the barn was engulfed in flames.
HyLife executive vice-president Claude Vielfaure says 1,500 hogs perished in the blaze and the barn was destroyed.
He told CBC News he's "very sad" about the loss, and that he doesn't know what could have caused the fire.
Vielfaure said the company works very hard to make sure all of its barns are safe, but he added that the barn was more than 20 years old and did not have a sprinkler system installed because it was grandfathered under building codes at the time.
According to its website, HyLife produces 1.4 million hogs annually in Canada and the United States.
The Manitoba Office of the Fire Commissioner is investigating the cause of the blaze.