Firefighters battled a barn fire for more than five hours Thursday in Nanaimo.
The fire, on a large rural property at the corner of Jenkins and Dines roads near Green Lake, completely destroyed the barn, which contained hay and equipment.
Trucks from four Nanaimo Fire Rescue stations responded to the alarm at about 5:30 p.m.
Stu Kenning, Nanaimo Fire Rescue assistant chief of operations, said the barn was fully ablaze when firefighters arrived on scene.
“There were no animals in the barn,” Kenning said. “It was just used for storage of hay and wood and some farm equipment.”
The barn was located several hundred metres down a long driveway from fire hydrants on Jenkins Road, which made it difficult to access the fire and supply water to fight the blaze.
“We were on scene for about five hours last night and a machine is coming in today [Oct. 1] to get the hay out and then we can put [the fire] all the way out,” Kenning said.
Kenning said the fire was started accidentally by the property owner, but declined to provide further details other than to say there was nothing suspicious about the how the fire started.
The barn was a total loss. The property is insured.
photos@nanaimobulletin.com
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter