The fire alarm from the 1,200 sow farrow-finish hog operation went off around 7pm on Thursday evening, with volunteer firefighters from Cudworth and Wakaw responding.

Unfortunately, the flames spread very quickly. The RM of Hoodoo had its bulldozer on site and were able to set up a fire wall to save one of the barns, but the flames jumped over the break.

“There were four separate barns connected with hallways,” said Derreck Kolla, reeve of the Rural Municipality of Hoodoo. “It would have been at full capacity. It was a 1200 sow farrow-to-finish operation, so probably on average about 12,000 pigs in the barns at any given time.”

The hog production unit was built in 1994 and doubled in size in 1998.  Kolla says there are about 13 or 14 employees, and was originally established by a group of mainly local investors.

As of Friday morning, the cause of the fire had not been determined.

Listen to CJWW Agricuture Director Neil Billinger’s interview with Derreck Kolla below.    (Above photo credit to CJWW listener Eleanor)