Dawson Creek Fire Department extinguish Tuesday night barn fire

DAWSON CREEK, B.C. — The Dawson Creek Fire Department responded to a report of a barn fire on the edge of its rural fire protection area on Tuesday night. 

According to acting fire chief Todd Pickett, the report was received at approximately 6:40 p.m., and fire crews arrived on the scene to find an “old heavy timber barn” engulfed in flames.

“It was basically kind of nestled in the trees,” said Pickett.

“We wanted to make sure that we got the surrounding trees out so it didn’t spread, and then we were able to extinguish the barn itself. It’s a big, heavy, timber log structure, so it took quite a bit of water and time to make sure it was fully extinguished.”

Pickett says six apparatus were used to extinguish the fire, including two chief’s trucks, two small brush trucks, an engine, and a tender. 

The process took approximately four hours to complete by the time fire crews had returned to the station and finished cleaning the equipment.

“It was still within our fire protection area, but towards the edge of it, so it was quite a ways to shuttle water back and forth,” said Pickett. 

The acting fire chief added there was another smaller barn on the property, but no residence and no electricity or heat leading to the area. 

“The wind was calm that night, which definitely helped limit the spread,” said Pickett. 

Although the barn wasn’t in use at the time, Pickett says the fire is a loss for the property owners, whose hay land inhabits the surrounding area. 

“They’ve got lots of history with that barn,” said Pickett. “I think they said it was about 100 years old.”

The cause of the fire is still under investigation.