Shop destroyed, chickens perish in separate fires near Sarto

The Hanover Fire Department battled several structure fires Tuesday afternoon.

Fire Chief Paul Wiebe says they were called out shortly after 3 pm, southeast of Sarto after a grass fire began encroaching on several buildings. 

Wiebe says by the time they were set up, the fire had already spread to one of the shops. He says it was a shop about 30 feet by 50 that will likely be a total loss. Wiebe notes the shop contained some old tractors but most of the contents were saved. 

"There's probably one tractor and just tools and so on that will be lost," he says. "Minimum compared to what it could have been for sure."

He notes they were able to save a second shop on the yard, though there was minor damage to the wall and part of the roof. 

"Nothing that can't be quickly repaired," he says. "That was a really good stop on that one."

According to Wiebe, crews were on scene for about thirty minutes when they received a second call, about three miles away, west of Sarto. He notes a chicken coop had caught fire.

"There was about half a dozen chickens in there that unfortunately perished," says Wiebe. "That fire was started, we feel, by a heat bulb in the chicken coop."

Wiebe says the fire spread to grass and brush, burning about two to three acres. He notes they were able to extinguish the fire before it spread to other buildings. Wiebe says they will not be investigating this fire.

As for the first fire, Wiebe says they probably will not spend too much time investigating the cause as the dollar loss is not significant.

With files from Lexi Olifirowich