Yvan Drapeau owns the farm with his brother Christian. he says he was awakened by an alarm message from one of his buildings. Resident nearby, the farmer was quickly on site. The building housing part of his cows was in flames. Strong winds propagated tysons to a 2nd building in which was another part of his herd. A total of 225 animals perished in the flames.
At the height of the fire, some 50 firefighters were deployed to the scene. The barracks of Saint-Philipe-de-Néri, Saint-Pascal and Sainte-Hélène intervened first. The director of the Intermunicipal Fire Safety Service of St-Pascal Éric Lévesque explains that he called on the KamEst management grouping together the barracks of Saint-Joseph, Saint-André and Saint-Alexandre since the farm is located outside the aqueduct network.
Yvan Drapeau added that the fire could have been started by welding work currently underway on his farm. The fire chief is more cautious, believing that there are several hypotheses as to the origin of the incident but that the criminal track has been ruled out.
Jeannicole Farm won the prestigious title of Commander of the National Order of Agricultural Merit in 2014.
Source: TVA
