No animals were reported injured or lost during a massive fire at Yellow Point Farms on Monday night. (submitted photo/Dylan Seymour)

By Alex Rawnsley

huge blaze

‘A big loss for the community:’ barn at Yellow Point Farms completely destroyed by fire

May 2, 2023 | 11:21 AM

NANAIMO — A 100-year-old barn at a popular rural area farm and petting zoo has burned to the ground.

The main building at Yellow Point Farms along Yellow Point Rd. near Nanaimo Airport went up in flames around 10:30 p.m. on Monday, May 1, completely destroying the building and everything inside.

Fire Chief Florian Schulz from North Oyster Fire Department told NanaimoNewsNOW nobody was injured, including animals.

“It was a fully involved, two-storey, wood frame barn. Luckily it’s not the barn that houses the animals, just at the back of the barn there was a bird enclosure. [The owner] let the birds out once he found the structure on fire.”

A large plume of smoke extended from the main barn building at Yellow Point Farms. (submitted photo/Dylan Seymour)

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The owners of the property were unavailable to speak to NanaimoNewsNOW, with a farm hand on scene Tuesday morning saying they were very upset and didn’t want to comment.

Things inside the burned building reportedly included animal feed, tools, freezers including frozen meat and many personal items.

Florian said he was on scene roughly five minutes after page out and could see the glow of the fire from his home.

“We tried to knock the fire down in the barn and essentially just protected the exposures which is the neighbouring barn that houses all the animals, chicken coop and so on. Once we had the exposures protected we just focused further on extinguishing the fire.”

Three pieces of equipment from North Oyster and corresponding firefighters attended, with Ladysmith Fire Department providing automatic mutual aid through an engine and command unit.

Cranberry Fire Department also contributed two water tenders.

Approximately 20 firefighters from the three departments worked the scene until around 4 a.m. Tuesday morning.

Fire crews from North Oyster, Cranberry and Ladysmith attended the fire, working for upwards of six hours. (submitted photo/Dylan Seymour)

“It’s definitely a total loss for the building. It’s about a 100-year-old wood frame barn, unfortunately, they go up pretty fast and pretty hot,” Schulz said. “By the time we arrived on scene which was about five minutes after page out, it was a fully involved structure and essentially gone at that point”

A cause of the fire has yet to be identified.

Sprinklers, fed by a portable pump and nearby irrigation pond, are set up on the rubble to further eliminate hotspots.

Schulz said they’ll return to the property Tuesday evening to look over and decide whether to stop the sprinklers or keep things going for another night.

He added it’s “a big loss for the community” with the destruction of a heritage-era building.

A GoFundMe was launched to support the owners, with donations topping $2,600 as of Tuesday afternoon.

Crews from three area fire departments worked for nearly six hours to fully extinguish a fire at Yellow Point Farms Monday night. (submitted photo/Dylan Seymour)

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