A barn north of Dapp burned to the ground early last week, destroying several pieces of farm equipment in the process.
Westlock County Regional Fire Chief John Biro said the call came in at about 8:20 p.m. last Monday, Feb. 3. Eighteen firefighters from the Westlock Rural, Jarvie and Fawcett fire departments responded.
When they arrived on scene, however, the fire had already grown to a size that the structure had been compromised and crews couldn’t go inside.
“Due to the fire being beyond the control of the hand lines, and the unsafe structure, a defensive operation was initiated basically containing the fire,” he said.
It took firefighters about a half hour to bring the blaze under control, but it wasn’t until about three hours later that the fire was extinguished. Crews used flame-retardant foam to eventually get the fire out, due to the highly flammable fuel associated with the equipment inside.
In total, the three fire departments spent about three and a half hours on scene, and were back in service shortly after midnight.
There were no injuries as a result of the blaze.
Biro said he could not say what the cause of the fire was, as the investigation was still in the early stages last week.
He did offer some words of caution, however, with respect to dealing with electricity and power lines in the event of an incident like this.
“If anybody does come across or have a structure fire, they should stay away from any power lines,” he said. “Once a collapse can happen, power lines could end up on the ground and possibly strike or electrocute somebody nearby.”
In many cases on rural properties like this one, there is a pull station at the power pole where the property’s occupant can cut the power. In some cases, the power to the structure must be cut at the fuse box.
In any case, Biro urges extreme caution around electrical lines.
“People should use caution around power lines, or near a structure that’s burning that has power, because there is a potential for either shock or death,” he said.
