It’s no longer a raging fire, but smoke coming from a property south of the 401 was still visible Friday morning as London firefighters remain at the scene, dousing hot spots.
The blaze began late Wednesday night, around 9:30 p.m., inside a hay storage warehouse at London Dairy Farm on Old Victoria Road.
More than 36 hours later, District Fire Chief Dean Baker tells AM980 hot spots remain.
“Just the sheer amount of volume of hay that is there, to move it with two excavators is taking a long time. We’ve had two excavators working pretty well full-time now. Basically, the hay is burning right from the top down to the bottom and it’s taking a long time to get everything out and everything moved.”
Fire crews were able to contain the fire Wednesday night, and early Thursday morning to avoid the flames from spreading to another nearby warehouse that houses about more than 1,000 cows.
Damage is estimated to be at least $2 million.
Baker expects fire crews to be at the scene for most of the day Friday, and says they’re taking precautions to ensure the safety of all firefighters.
“We just continue to monitor how long we’ve been there and we, under set intervals depending on the weather, temperature, food cycles, that we get them through on a regular basis and make sure no one is too tired.”
The Ontario Fire Marshal will arrive on scene Monday to investigate.
The cause of the fire is still not known.
Source: Dairy Farm Fire in South London Still Smouldering, Cause Unknown | ( AM) AM 980
