3,500 pigs die in Manitoba barn fire

A barn blaze killed thousands of hogsnear New Bothwell, Man., Thursday night.

Fire crews got a call around 9:30 p.m. Thursday about the blaze at the farmjust southwestof the communityon Provincial Road 31N, about a kilometre east of Highway 59.

Crews from New Bothwell, Kleefeld and Grunthal, Man., fought the fire for most of the night, said Paul Wiebe, fire chief for the rural municipality of Hanover.

St. Pierre-Jolys RCMPwere also at the barn.

Wiebe said around 3,500 hogs died in the fire and the structure is a total loss. Similar numbers of animals have died in barn fires in the area in the past, but it doesn't happen often, he said.

"We've had these kind of numbers before. Thankfully it's not often, and thankfully these hogs will have died early in the fire," Wiebe said.

"Early in a fire like this, there's a lot of smoke, and they usually don't survive that. So thankfully they probably didn't suffer too long. Hopefully it was quick for them."

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The fire was the largest the area's seen in two years or so, Wiebe said.

It's not clear how the fire started, he said, andthe Office of the Fire Commissioner is investigating.

One fire crew was still monitoring the barn on Friday morning, Wiebe said.

New Bothwell is about 40 kilometres southeast of Winnipeg.