Thousands of pigs lost in fire near Cudworth

By Alice McFarlene

A fire tore through a large farrow-to-finish hog operation Thursday night north of Cudworth.

The fire was called in by the site manager at roughly 7 p.m.

RM of Hoodoo Reeve Derreck Kolla said the RM and towns of Cudworth and Wakaw have a joint fire service and all trucks, tankers and pumpers responded.

“By the time they got there, they were hoping they could save some of the barns, but the fire moved so fast that they weren’t able to save any of the barns,” he said.

Kolla noted he understands the operation was at full capacity.

“It was a 1,200 farrow-to-finish operation. Probably on average, (there are) around 12,000 pigs in the barns at any given time,” he said. “There are four separate barns that were connected with hallways.”

Kolla said the fire crews were hoping they could do more, but the fire moved very fast.

“The RM did have a bulldozer there and they were able to set up a firewall to try to save one of the barns. But the fire ended up jumping it, from my understanding,” he added.

The firefighters were able to save a house on site which sustained smoke damage.

Kolla said he appreciates the hard work of the volunteer firefighters.

“We do ask a lot of those guys. It’s great to see them showing up and taking the time out of their lives to come and help the community when we have a horrible situation like this happen,” he said. “And to the Progressive Investment Group, hopefully, they know that the community is here to help them deal with this tragic loss.”

Kolla said the operation has been a fixture in the Cudworth area, as the hog production unit was built in 1994.

“It will be a definite blow to the community and to all the people who work there,” Kolla said.