Early-morning fire destroys Guelph barn

Barn burns to ground near Guelph CTV Kitchener: An early-morning fire in Guelph destroyed a barn but spared the horses that were inside. Tracy Tong reports.

The owner of a barn near Guelph says he’s just happy nobody was hurt in an early-morning fire.

Fire crews from Guelph, Fergus and Rockwood were called to the barn on Wellington Road 30 shortly after 7 a.m. Monday.

The property belongs to Walkerbrae Farms. Owner Jim Walker says he suspects the fire began with a tractor.

“We plugged the tractor in to so it would start later to feed, and for some reason, I guess that’s what started fthe fire,” he told CTV.

“Two minutes later, the tractor was on fire. We tried to get the tractor out, but we couldn’t get to it and in a few minutes the barn was on fire.”

Fire officials say they’ve yet to determine the cause, but the fire spread quickly due to a large quantity of hay in close proximity and had fully engulfed the barn before they arrived.

Heavy smoke was visible at the site for much of the morning. The fire was mostly under control by noon, but crews remained on the scene dealing with the remaining hotspots.

Three tractors were lost along with the barn, but Walker says 10 horses inside the barn were saved.

“We’ve been fortunate,” he said.

“We’ve never had a barn fire over the years, and everybody’s fine, no one got hurt.”

Other buildings on the property were not affected. A damage estimate was not immediately available.