Thousands of pigs die in barn fire north of Yorkton

By Alice McFarlane

A fire at a pig barn owned by Olymel resulted in the loss of roughly 10,000 pigs.

The barn located in the Sturgis area was a total loss, according to Olymel’s vice-president of production, Casey Smit.

“(It’s) a very unfortunate event,” Smit said. “Our staff were on site, they spotted a fire, and called it in to 911 immediately. Obviously, they exited the building and waited for the fire department to come.

“But unfortunately, just for the size of facility and how quickly the fire spread, the fire department wasn’t able to do anything more than sort of monitor the situation and unfortunately the barn was completely destroyed.”

The pigs in the barn were of various ages. Smit said it was part of a production flow.

“There would have been young pigs and older pigs throughout the barn. There are basically two wings in the barn so it’s a continuous flow of operation,” he said.

There is a second Olymel barn and feed mill about half of a kilometre away. Those facilities were not affected.

Smit said fire officials and insurance inspectors were on site Monday. He said there will be an assessment of the situation. Once that is complete, the company will determine the next steps.