Fire destroys chicken coop in Erin

ERIN – A heat lamp was determined to be the cause of a fire that destroyed a chicken coop in Erin on May 11.

Erin fire chief Jim Sawkins said the initial call came in just before 5pm, with a person on the Wellington Road 124 property reporting a large shed on fire.

The “shed” turned out to be a chicken coop, and it was lost in the blaze, Sawkins said.

Both Erin and Rockwood fire departments responded to the fire, with a total of nine vehicles on site, he said, noting the reason for the large response was concern about the proximity of the shed to a house on site.

The fire, however, did not spread to the house.

“We were lucky there,” said Sawkins.

He could not say whether any chickens were harmed in the fire.

Another call

Crews from Rockwood were back out again later the same night at around 9pm for a cooking fire investigation at a local seniors’ residence in the village.

Guelph-Eramosa Fire Chief Jim Petrik described the situation at 160 Guelph St. not as a fire, but as a minor “cooking incident.” But he confirmed firefighters did attend.

“We just went and blew all the smoke out of the hallways,” he said.