Douglas – A Monday evening fire at the Brian and Lorraine Hamilton farm on the Barr line in Admaston/Bromley (AB) Township destroyed a large heritage barn and resulted in the loss of several farm animals.
Mr. Hamilton told the Leader Tuesday morning he and his wife were in the living room when she got up and by chance looked out the window and saw smoke coming from the barn.
“It was 8:40,” he said. “She headed for the barn and I headed for the porch, and by the time I got my 911 call made, the flames were coming out the top of the barn.
“The whole building was engulfed before the fire department got here,” he added.
Two calves, two pigs, a llama, and 14 rabbits which Mrs. Hamilton had trained for demonstration at special events perished in the fire.
“The rest of the animals were out in the lean-to,” he explained. “We managed to get them away from the fire and out into the pasture.
“We had them contained in the yard at 2 o’clock and fed them a bale of hay and they looked content this morning,” he added. “So there’s 15 or 20 more head that are fine.”
Mr. Hamilton said the calves and rabbits that were in the barn were in pens. They were unable to get inside to rescue them.
“It’s a hobby farm now,” he said.
Someone had been in the barn until as late as eight o’clock and everything was fine.
The barn was approximately 60 feet x 80 feet in size and there was some insurance on the building.
“It was an old bank barn that was over 100 years old and we’ll never replace the heritage of it all,” he noted. “We had done a lot of work in the barn and had it looking pretty nice.
“We had an agility course inside for the rabbits with obstacles and stuff,” he continued.
He said pre-COVID, he and his wife, who was a leader with the 4H Club, would host club functions in the barn with 40-50 kids on a regular basis.
He said the cause of the fire is unknown, adding it is believed it started in the end next to the highway where the electrical switches were located.
Mr. Hamilton said they were meeting with the insurance adjuster today (Tuesday), noting it was too early to determine whether they would rebuild or not. He had no estimate on the loss at this time.
“There’ll be nothing before the spring, for sure,” he said. “We need to consider our options.”
He praised both the Douglas and Whitewater Region Township fire departments for their efforts battling the blaze.
“The fire department did a phenomenal job and the wind was working in our favour. Both Whitewater and Douglas responded and they arrived almost simultaneously.
“One fire truck came in the driveway and the other one had to wait and come in behind him,” he recalled. “We were very fortunate that way.”
He noted the members of the Douglas department were at the hall when the call came in so the response was rapid.
“I took a piece of equipment over to Andrew’s (nephew) and was driving out the driveway and looked up to the end of Barr Line and saw the Whitewater trucks were coming down the road. I turned left towards Andrew’s barn and the Douglas trucks came over the hill.
“That’s how close they were at being here together,” he added. “They do a great job of cooperating and managed to make sure no other building was affected, and there were some very close.”
Douglas Fire Chief Bill McHale confirmed they were at the hall for a practice when the call came in.
“I’d say all our trucks were on the road within two minutes. It was a skeleton. It was fully involved when we got there.
“We could see the flames when we crested the hill on Dillabough Road; it was fully involved at that point,” he added.
He confirmed the fire started in the southeast end of the building where the electrical panel was.
“It was an old building with steel posts and a heavy, heavy wooden frame,” he explained. “It was made with real lumber.
“And there was bit of straw in the loft in the north end of the building,” he added. “It burnt fast and it burnt hot, so we took a defensive approach and protected the surrounding structures.”
He said some of those structures were charred, but they are still standing.
Chief McHale said the weather was in their favour, noting they won’t have too many more calls in the next three months where the temperature is zero degrees.
“And put that ahead 24 hours when this snow is coming . . . that changes everything – it changes response time, the trips back and forth for water, even the fire scene with firefighters falling.
“And there was a slight east wind, which you never get on the Barr Line,” he continued. “The wind usually blows from Petawawa right down the Barr Line.”
Douglas had 18 personnel, a pumper, two tankers, and the equipment truck on scene while Whitewater, who is first response to this area of the township, arrived with a pumper and equipment truck from Cobden and 15 personnel. A tanker from Haley’s was also summoned through Mutual Aid.
Water was shuttled from a hydrant in Cobden.
Chief McHale said they brought in a high-hoe from R.J. Selle Sand and Gravel to help dismantle the structure
OPP closed a section of the Barr Line briefly from the Cobden-Eganville Road to Patterson Road. Renfrew County road personnel were out to sand the Cobden-Eganville Road and Admaston/Bromley crews sanded the Barr Line section. OPP and County of Renfrew paramedics were on scene during the fire.
Douglas was on scene until 2:07 and the fire was declared out by approximately 1:30. Whitewater was released at 10:15 p.m.
