Firefighters tackle barn fire near Courtenay, B.C.

Fire crews made quick work of a barn fire just outside of Cumberland, B.C., on Sunday and are crediting a worker’s quick actions with helping save the structure.

Crews were called to the barn fire on Tobacca Road near Lockwell Road on Sunday afternoon and found the situation was better than they had first feared.

Chief Mike Williamson says the fire began in a lean-to extension of the barn and then started to spread into the main building.

“The whole add-on section is destroyed," he said. "The structure is still there but everything was burnt, the rafters were burnt, the walls were all burnt and then it’s connected to the big barn which luckily had some sort of siding like drywall and that really saved it from getting into the big barn."

He says there were no people injured and no animals were in the barn at the time of the fire.

Courtenay’s fire department was initially called in with a tanker and contributed water to the rural property.

“We got it knocked down pretty quick," Williamson said. "It was hard to get to because of lots of power in there, we had to get the power shut off. The fire was out quick, within 10 minutes."

Williamson says the fire may have started due to an electrical problem. He also said a worker at the scene initially tried to fight the fire before calling 911.

“It was a good thing the worker spotted it," he said. "He tried to put it out with a fire extinguisher. He was there right from the get-go. He tried to mitigate it but it didn’t work."