Dozens of cows die in Alma fire

Fifth-generation dairy farm destroyed Tuesday morning

Forty-five cows and a calf perished Tuesday morning in a fire that destroyed a milk barn in Alma.

Wendell Dunbar, who owns the farm with his brother Ivan, said the heat was so intense when they arrived at the barn around 5:15 a.m., they couldn’t get near the burning structure.

“It would wrinkle the skin on your face,” he said of the heat across the driveway from the barn.

They were, however, able to rescue some livestock from an adjacent barn and close some doors to prevent the fire from spreading.

The steel siding on the barn also helped prevent the spread and contain the heat.

“She was blood red from one end to the other,” said Dunbar in describing the scene.

And then the barn collapsed, “as if you let the air out of a balloon.”

The fire has at least temporarily shut down the fifth-generation farm’s dairy operation. They had been milking 55 cows prior to the fire. The remaining herd has been dispersed to a neighbouring farm while the Dunbars decide their next step.

Bred heifers and cows are still being housed in other barns on the farm.

The loss is insured. If they rebuild, Wendell said the new barn will likely go up further away from the other barns.

All of the milking equipment, their feeding system, a John Deere tractor, a pressure washer and other milk house equipment was destroyed. “I didn’t even save a bucket.” But it is the loss of the cows that bothers him.

“I wish they could’ve got out,” he said.

The farm owners were still awaiting a visit and direction from the Department of Environment Tuesday afternoon before they could proceed with a cleanup of the site.

A passerby alerted the Dunbars to the fire.

Alberton Volunteer Fire Department called in the neighbouring departments of Tignish, Miminegash, Alberton, O’Leary and West Point for assistance on the early morning call. A Maritime Electric crew was dispatched to the scene to disconnect power to the barn. Department of Highways personnel assisted with traffic control.

The Alberton department was called back Tuesday afternoon after the contents of a grain tank next to the flattened barn ignited.

Two other barns and a house just beyond them were also in close proximity to the fire. The heat warped some of the siding on the house. Dunbar is thankful the wind was light when the fire started as that also helped prevent it from spreading.

A fire investigator with the fire marshal’s office told him the damage to the barn was so extensive that it is doubtful a cause will ever be determined.

“A metal building, so what’s left, basically is the metal,” Alberton fire Chief Shannon Dunville said from the scene Tuesday morning. “It’s all collapsed in on what’s left, so we have an excavator moving the metal around and, as you can see, the guys are spraying it down.”

Dunville said firefighters attacked the fire from the exterior with about 100,000 gallons of water.