CLAREMONT — Firefighters were able to promptly contain a blaze in a barn containing 3,000 chickens on Monday, preventing any loss of life.
Claremont Fire Chief James Chamberlain chalks up the save to prompt response times and good water suppression tactics.
“I’m very, very pleased with the execution,” he said in a Tuesday phone interview.
Firefighters responded within five minutes to the report of the barn fire at Ascutney View Farms on Windsor Road on Monday morning, he said.
Upon arrival, they found “moderate smoke showing from the roofline of a single-story barn,” according to a news release Chamberlain issued Monday.
They determined that the fire’s “point of origin” was a skid-steer with mechanical problems in the northern part of the barn. Crews were able to contain the fire to that part of the barn. The fire was under control at 10:17 a.m.
A property representative on the scene was able to turn off the barn’s ventilation system, which helped to protect the chickens from smoke inhalation, Chamberlain said.
He described the situation as the “best case scenario.”
Liz McNamara, one of the co-owners of Mac’s Happy Acres, which owns the barn, was grateful to the department for its prompt response to a call from a passerby who she described as a “good Samaritan.”
With no people or animals injured, the business “got very fortunate, very lucky,” she said. And the damage to the barn is superficial, she said.
They are, however, in need of a new skid-steer. The one that was lost was quite old. The farm was at least the third owner of the machine, she said.
“It’s lived its best life and done its job,” she said.
Golden Cross Ambulance evaluated one firefighter on the scene for smoke inhalation.
The Cornish Police Department and Claremont Police Department also assisted on scene. The Cornish Fire Department provided station coverage.
Monday’s fire comes amid the department’s “busiest year ever,” Chamberlain said. The department saw the “most calls on record” for the month of August, he said.
Amid dry conditions, the department has “mitigated a couple brush fires in recent weeks,” he said. So far, however, they’ve been “fortunate with that avenue.”