Fires near Ottawa and Kitchener destroyed barns on Tuesday.
Firefighters were called to a Roseville Road farm, about 15 kilometres south-west of Kitchenerr, about 5:25 p.m. Tuesday where a large barn was engulfed in flames. High winds fanned the flames and threatened a nearby home.
North Dumfries fire Chief Robert Shantz said all of his volunteers were involved in fighting the fire and they were assisted by firefighters from New Dundee and Kitchener, who hauled water to the scene from the north end of Ayr several kilometres away.
The barn was packed with freshly-cut hay and there were no animals kept in the building at the time of the fire.
Along with the hay and some farm equipment, several snowmobiles were being stored in the barn,Shantz said. A car parked near the barn was also destroyed.
The barn collapsed about an hour after the fire started, but it took several hours to douse the flames and fire crews remained on scene overnight to hose down any flare ups.
The fire caused an estimated $500,000 damage. It may have been started by heating hay.
At Toledo, near Ottawa, a fire at almost the same time Tuesday afternoon destroyed a barn with about 50 goats, a cow, a horse and cat.
Edward Cavanagh was inside his home when his wife saw the flames and called 9-1-1 Tuesday afternoon.
"It spread too fast. It was hot, but not as hot as it could have been," he said. "I went outside and the barns were engulfed."
"The worst part was that you couldn't get to them (the animals) because it was too hot," Cavanagh said.
Dozens of firefighters from three different communities responded to the blaze. It took crews roughly two hours to get the blaze under control. A local construction crew was then called in to tear down the barn as a precaution.
