Fire destroys grain elevator in Saskatchewan

Nov 30, 2016

Blaze happened in the town of Turtleford

By Diego Flammini
Assistant Editor, North American Content
Farms.com

A fire destroyed a grain elevator in Turtleford, Saskatchewan between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.

The fire broke out around 10:00 p.m. CST (11:00 EST). As a result, Highway 26 was closed for several hours before reopening around 5:00 a.m. local time.

Turtleford RCMP said firefighters from Turtleford, St. Walburg and Mervin responded to the fire.

Once the fire started, people from Turtleford and surrounding areas made their way to the elevator to see what was happening.

“I was just sitting on the couch with my kids,” said Kelly Baillargeon, a farmer from Edam, SK, who lives about 20 minutes away. “By the time I got there, there were fire trucks and police cars everywhere. They were spraying it down with water but the fire was so big.”

Baillargeon said the grain elevator is owned by a local farmer.

Despite a number of emergency personnel on the scene, there wasn’t much information about a possible cause.

“Nobody really knew anything,” Baillargeon said. “We know they had to shut the power off in town.”

Farms.com has reached out to Turtleford fire chief Brent Edwards, and Mayor Roland Olson for comment.

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