Cause of vacant barn fire in Guelph/Eramosa undetermined

GUELPH/ERAMOSA – A small barn on a Wellington County Road 39 farm property was all but devoured by flames the morning of Aug. 23.

Morning commuters lured by the billowing smoke pulled over on gravel shoulders to watch the inferno and record photos and video.

Several minutes after flames fully engulfed the barn, fire trucks from Guelph Fire Department and Centre Wellington Fire and Rescue Services arrived, prompted by numerous 911 calls, and pulled into a laneway marked by a 5543 address sign.

Water was relayed from tanker trucks up the laneway to attack the blaze.

In a phone call with the Advertiser, Guelph Fire Chief Dave Elloway said the cause of the fire will be recorded as “undetermined.”

The Office of the Fire Marshal (OFM) was contacted by the Guelph Fire Department, but spokesperson Sean Driscoll said in an email the OFM would not be investigating.

Elloway said the vacant barn was not housing any livestock, and nobody was harmed.

What remained of the building has since been leveled by an excavator.

A farmhouse at the same address was completely destroyed by fire on Aug. 27 last year.

The cause of that fire was also said to be unknown, and was deemed suspicious.