Shortly before 6:00 p.m., the Drummondville Fire and Civil Security Service (SSISCD) received an alert about a fire in a farm building in 5th grade in the Saint-Joachim sector, almost on the border of the territory of Drummondville and the municipality of St-Zephirin- de-courval.
According to witnesses Vingt55 met at the scene, the flames and smoke spread through the roof and workbench from the first call. The owner and a neighbor tried to put out the fire while firefighters were on their way. Firefighters from the Lac Saint-Pierre Fire Department quickly arrived on the scene and confirmed the major blaze while Drummondville firefighters were en route.
While Drummondville units were en route to the scene, the Régie Incendie du Lac Saint-Pierre, who had already received the call for the same incident, arrived on the scene and confirmed a major fire in a farm building. explains Andrew Barr. Department head at SSI Drummondville
Based on this information, the SSISCD officer immediately requested that additional teams be called up to reinforce and cover the areas served by the service.
For water transport, mutual aid tankers were requested by the SSIs of St-Cyrille and Notre-Dame-du-Bon-Conseil. In addition to tackling the fire, personnel at the Régie Incendie du Lac St-Pierre installed conduits to protect a garage and a residential building near the fire, as well as two fuel tanks for farm machinery. says department head Andrew Barr.
When firefighters arrived on the scene, the dairy farm was already engulfed in a fireball, confirmed a neighbor who was trying to come to the owner’s aid. The fire appears to have started in the roof or upper part of the building
When the SSISCD arrived on site, a Drummondville officer met the RI Lac St-Pierre officer and took command of the fire. says Drummond ISS boss Andrew Barr. Two more nozzles were installed to fight the fire. After a little over an hour, about thirty firefighters from Drummondville and the Régie Incendie de Lac St-Pierre managed to bring the fire under control, completely destroying the building. confirms Mr. Barr.
The building is a total loss and according to initial observations and information received by Vingt55 on site, only one cow in the herd of 47 cows escaped the flames.
A mechanical shovel was required for firefighters to fully extinguish the fire beneath the structure of the collapsed building. No one was injured, but 47 animals died in the fire. In addition to the firefighters on site, SIUCQ volunteers were also present to check the perimeter. For security reasons, Route 255 was closed during the operation.
Due to the complete destruction of the building, it is not possible to determine the exact cause of the fire explain Drummond ISS boss Andrew Barr However, information gathered on site suggests an accidental fire.