Barn fire leaves close to 3000 pigs dead

At least 3,000 pigs killed in Otterville fire From CTV Kitchener: A fire at Van Boekel Farms on Friday night killed 3,000 sows and an undetermined number of other pigs.

A barn in Oxford County was destroyed by a fire Friday night causing millions of dollars in damages.

Fire officials say there were approximately 3000 sows and an undetermined number of other pigs that died in the fire.

The overnight fire happened at Van Boekel Farms, a pig farm located on Milldale Road near Otterville.

At 1:30 a.m. OPP tweeted they were closing the road between Middletown Line and Pick Line.

Many people witnessed this fire last night, including Justin Eus, who said the flames were out of control.

“We saw the smoke and it was just barreling up and we got pretty close to it,” Eus said.

It’s not clear what type of livestock were in the barn or if any died, but officials say there could have been thousands of animals inside when flames broke out.

OPP say the fire is not suspicious, but that the Ontario Fire Marshal has been called in to investigate.

According to police damage is estimated to be between two to three million dollars.

Further information was not available.

From CTV's Natalie Van Rooy