Sherwood Park horse rescuer hoping to recover following shed fire

Fire damaged a building at a horse rescue that housed equipment for the animals and was used to keep them warm in the winter. Marek Tkach reports.

A local horse rescuer is in need of help after a fire destroyed a shed over the weekend.

Luckily, none of 5 Freedoms Ranch Rescue and Rehabilitation’s 90 horses were harmed in the blaze. But food, blankets and other supplies are all gone.

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5 Freedoms was started about a decade ago by Bev Wilson. The ranch will often save horses from auctions where they would likely be sold for slaughter.

“She has a big heart for what she’s doing,” said long-time supporter Cheryl Armstead. “She’s trying very hard to support these horses and to support the people that come on to hard times and maybe have to drop their horses off at auction.”

She said that last year, 5 Freedoms took in six pregnant mares, who would have likely been slaughtered.

“Now they’ve had all their babies, and those babies have had a nice, loving home which they wouldn’t have had if it weren’t for Bev,” said Armstead.

Typically when the weather gets frigid, the horses are kept in the very shed that burned down. Luckily with warmer temperatures, no horses were in the shed during the fire.

Wilson said she is likely out at least $15,000 in supplies lost.

“Thirty-two horse blankets are worth probably $10,000 just for the horse blankets alone,” she told CTV News Edmonton. “And then the feed, we had a full pallet – probably another $5,000 or so.”

Wilson said the fire was electrical, but fire services haven’t yet confirmed.

“I don’t know, there’s so much damage in there. It’s going to take a while to assess with tools and all kinds of stuff.”

The ranch is accepting donations through its website.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Marek Tkach