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Family ‘just existing’ after loss of 80 cows in farm fire


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As family members gathered on Sunday in the shade of massive trees beside the smouldering ruins of what was a massive barn, Terry Yungblut said his family has been left numb by the loss of 80 cherished cows born and bred right on the farm on Yungblut Lane.

“We’re just existing,” he said. “The reality isn’t there yet. It’s just sinking in.”

Thorold fire services Capt. Gary Coplen said the department got the call shortly before 5 p.m. of a fire at Greenview Farms, a scenic little road lined with vineyards.

Attempts to save the barn quickly evolved into an attempt to simply contain the fire and not let it spread to the family’s neighbouring brick home, said Coplen.

“When they got here it was fully involved,” he said.

People reported seeing the massive plume of black smoke from Highway 406 and beyond.

The Thorold fire service issued a call for help from the Town of Pelham fire department, as part of a regional mutual aid agreement on major fires.

Coplen said Pelham sent two tanker trucks, a pumper truck and Pelham fire Chief Bob Lymburner. Thorold’s fire department threw everything but the kitchen sink at the fire, including four pumper trucks, an aerial truck, two tanker trucks and four rescue trucks.

“We had virtually every piece of equipment out,” said Coplen.

Yungblut said his family rushed to the barn to try to save the prized Holstein cows, which numbered about 90 in total. “We got 10 out, that’s all,” he said. “We tried to enter but were driven back by the smoke. We couldn’t take the heat or smoke any more.

“It was so intense.”

Yungblut, whose family has owned the farm for more than a century, said the fire claimed cows with more than 60 years of breeding involved. The cows aren’t just producers of milk: the family also has an attachment to them, he said.

“You know every one of them and you know them by name,” he said. “You raise them from a calf. They’re all individuals: some are calmer, some are higher strung.”

The ignition of so much straw and hay in the barn turned it into an inferno before the firefighters could arrive, said Yungblut.

“There was so much heat and flames, what could they do?”

Coplen said firefighters hosed down the house to keep the intense heat at bay, and to protect it from embers blowing in the air. A hay wagon at least 300 feet away from the barn on the other side of the house caught fire and burned.

Coplen said that’s why the City of Thorold and most other Niagara cities and towns have implemented a complete ban on outdoor burning in light of the drought-like conditions that have left lawns bone dry.

“This is exactly why we have the burning ban: everything is so dry,” he said. “Some people don’t understand the effect of burning embers.”

They can easily travel far and strike neighbouring properties, sparking fires, said Coplen.

“We don’t’ want that to happen.”

As a massive backhoe was tearing up the rubble from the barn to reveal hot spots on Sunday, Yungblut said he hasn’t even considered rebuilding yet. For now, his family is concentrating on knocking out any remaining dangers and being thankful they all survived.

“Nobody got hurt,” he said. “That’s one of the main things.”

The fire remains under investigation. As of early Sunday afternoon, the Ontario Fire Marshal hasn’t yet arrived on the scene.

Source: Niagara This Week


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