Local dairy farm devastated by fire for second time

By Ken Johnston
Editor

For the second time in a year the Herman Krahn family is having to rebuild a portion of their family farm.
Located about half a mile off Hwy. 11 on Atwood Road #2, the Krahn dairy and beef farm lost its milking barn with all of its dairy cattle inside Thursday afternoon.
The fire began around 2 p.m. in the east end of the barn and spread quickly as there was a strong southeast wind that day.
Herman himself was away, having left for a trip out east that day. His family was left in charge but were unable to get any of the 64 adult cattle or 24 calves out of the milking barn.
The Dawson volunteer fire department was called at about 2:14 p.m. and was on the scene by 2:25 p.m. Once on the scene it was determined that backup was needed and Rainy River was called in through the mutual aid agreement.
However, it was too late for either fire crew to do much for the barn.
In a matter of about 20 minutes the barn was completely engulfed in flames. The east wall of the barn collapsed inward around 2:33 p.m. Once that happened the fire spread quickly to two adjacent buildings, leveling them within a half an hour.
All firemen could do was keep the two silos cooled with water and hope that the gases inside did not explode.
Cause of the fire was speculated to be a heat lamp used to keep young calves warm, but that could not be confirmed at press time.
Thursday evening the services of T & K Sharp Construction from Stratton were enlisted to begin cleaning up the mess and to bury the dead cattle.
Dawson remained on the scene well into the evening soaking hot spots as needed. Water was pumped to the scene from a pond across Atwood #2.
Herman made it home late that night after finding out while enroute that his barn had burned down.
Early the next morning he was helping coordinate efforts to clean things up.
Many friends and neighbours were on hand late Thursday and all day Friday to help.
There were reports that building materials to help rebuild the barn arrived at the farm on the weekend .
Last year the Krahn family lost their machine shed to fire and with in days the Mennonite community banded together along with other folks to rebuild it.
That is happening all over again with both Mennonite and non-Mennonite families doing what they can.
Archie Wiersema told the Record Friday that they would be working on some way to help the Krahns. “They have always been there for neighbours. When the Newman place burned down Herman made one of the largest donations to the cause and when the town flooded he and his sons were right there sandbagging.”
Monday Archie’s brother Corrie Wiersema told the Record that a special donation account has been set up in Herman and Annie Krahn’s names at CIBC in Rainy River, Emo and Fort Frances.
The Krahn’s are second and third generation dairy farmers, having taken over the farm from the above mentioned Wiersema family in the 1960s.
According to John Wiersema his family settled on that farm and ran a dairy operation there starting in 1953.