An overload on the electrical panel due to the addition of a second auxiliary heating system could have caused the fire which destroyed an agricultural building and caused the death of animals late Tuesday evening on the 7th row in Saint-Christophe-d’Arthabaska.
“It’s a hypothesis that holds water,” said Patrick Davidson, director of the Victoriaville Fire Safety Department.
“The building, approximately 125 feet long and approximately 60 feet wide, housed seven ponies, chickens and three oxen which perished,” the officer said.
The losses amount to several hundred thousand dollars.
The large blaze required a general alarm at the Fernand-Giguère fire station in Victoriaville. The initial call already reported a widespread conflagration.
Firefighters from Chesterville, Tingwick, Warwick, the Érable regional fire safety service (Princeville barracks) and the Régie Incentraide were requested for mutual assistance. Thus, almost forty firefighters braved the intense cold to fight the fire. At one point the wind chill read -35 degrees Celsius.
-SIUCQ MRC Arthabaska agents were deployed to the scene with several vehicles, including their bus to allow the fighters to warm up.
We also used a mechanical excavator to help the firefighters in their extinguishing work.
The intervention, which lasted around ten hours, ended around 8:30 a.m. Wednesday.
Canada