ICYMI: devastating early morning fire rips through pig barn, killing 2,000 animals

Hardisty and Lougheed firefighters were called out to the Lougheed Hutterite Colony in the early morning hours of June 26, at 4:45 a.m. for a fire in the hog barn.

Regional Fire Chief Kim Cannady also answered the call, arriving on scene to find the 450’ building fully engulfed, and collapsing on one end by the time he arrived from his home in Forestburg.

All the pigs in the barn at the time, estimated at 2,000, were lost in the fire. Cannady said, “Not a thing could be done to save them, it was too far gone, and we couldn’t get inside to rescue any in time.

Cannady said that the colony members he spoke to put the loss into perspective. “Their attitude was that thefire will set them back, for sure, but there are people in the world who don’t know where their next meal is coming from, so they will be okay.