A fire last night (March 29) has destroyed a barn on a property owned by Balzac Meats, just metres away from where a quonset stood before being burned to the ground in a fire last June.  

Crews from several Rocky View firehouses, along with the Airdrie and Crossfield Fire Departments and the Airdrie RCMP all responded to the call shortly after 9:00 pm on Range Road 293 and Township Road 263.  

Rocky View District Fire Chief William Clarke, who responded to both of the blazes at the property, explains what fire crews found when they got to the scene.  "When our crews from Station 107 arrived it was a large barn and it was fully involved so we began defensive operations at that time."

Clarke says the barn wasn't being used to house animals but, according to what he was told by witnesses, was a storage facility for equipment.   He says since the building has collapsed in on itself, they likely won't know how much equipment was contained in the barn until after the investigation.

Clarke is proud of the quick work done by fire crews.  He says, "The crews were fast in.  They did an excellent job of working through the night.  We had a lot of apparatus and we needed to get that water on it and hit it hard.  We didn't want it to spread.  The difficulty of when a structure like this collapses a lot of metal siding, metal roofing, it provides that shield.  We do still have some hotspots right now but there was really no danger of it spreading anywhere else." 

According to Clarke, although the fire was never technically out of control, crews had it mostly extinguished by around 1:30 am.  Saturday morning, one  Rocky View truck was still on scene checking for hotspots and a security firm will stay at the location through the weekend. 

The fire last year took place June 22nd and started in a quonset where Balzac Meats had their operations.  

Clarke says in last night's fire, no one was injured and the cause and the extent of the damage will be learned once the investigation is complete.  

UPDATE: Fire Crews Battle Rural Structure Fire Near Balzac (VIDEO)

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