Fire levels pig barn near Wingham, Ont.

Steve Pilon was on his way to work this morning shortly before 6 a.m. on Monday when he spotted a yellow glow in the sky.

A barn between Wingham and Whitechurch was on fire.

“When we arrived the barn was fully engulfed,” said North Huron Fire Chief, Kent Readman. “So, our crews started right away, and called in mutual aid from Howick, Teeswater, Lucknow and Huron East.”

A number of pigs perished in the blaze, which levelled a century-old bank barn that had some additions put onto it over the years, said Readman. Fire crews had to shuttle water in from nearby Wingham to try and keep the fire from spreading to a nearby home.

“We have it under control. We have an excavator here to move the steel, and open the barn up a little bit so we can fully extinguish it,” said Readman.

A barn fire near Wingham, Ont. was captured shortly after 6 a.m. on Sept. 18, 2023 near Wingham, Ont. (Source: Steve Pilon)

At its peak, smoke from the barn fire wafted west into Wingham, prompting a warning from the fire department.

“The smoke was definitely heading towards town, so we did try to get some messaging out for people to close their windows, and stay inside, if they could. I think it’s dissipating now, but it can shift at anytime too, so we just wanted people to be cautious with the smoke,” he said.

Readman said the cause of the fire is not considered suspicious.

The section of Highway 86 closed west of Wingham to assist with water trucking, and staging, reopened shortly after 2 p.m. 

A pig barn burned to the ground on the morning of Sept. 18, 2023 near Wingham, Ont. An unknown number of pigs perished in the blaze which closed a section of Highway 86 between Wingham and Whitechurch for five hours. (Scott Miller/CTV News London)