A grain elevator in southwest Manitoba has been destroyed in an early-morning blaze. The wooden elevator in Waskada —a small community located about 50 kilometres west of Turtle Mountain Provincial Park—went up in flames around 5 a.m. on Tuesday morning. “It quickly spread,” Maurice Saltel, reeve for the RM of Brenda Waskada, told CTV News. Images from the scene show flames shooting from the elevator, with black smoke billowing above. Crews with the Waskada, Deloraine and Melita Fire Departments were called to the flames, ultimately deciding to let the structure burn and collapse. “The best use of resources to keep the most people safe was just to let it burn down and make sure it didn’t spread to other parts,” Saltel said, noting crews are expected to be in the area for a while. He said crews are still looking to determine what caused the fire, though he noted there was a lightning storm that passed through town late Monday night. With the decades-old structure now destroyed, Saltel said the fire has been difficult for Waskada residents. “People who grew up here and lived here all their lives, for them it was a really traumatic event because they have just so much history with that grain elevator,” he said, adding the elevator had been built in 1961. Saltel said no one was hurt in the fire. -With files from CTV’s Michelle Gerwing
