PLEASANT VALLEY — Firefighters managed to avert disaster early Sunday morning at a farm in Pleasant Valley.
Kensington Fire Chief Allan Sudsbury said a fire call came in about 12:30 a.m.
Because of the weekend storm firefighters had to co-ordinate with snow- clearing crews from the Department of Transportation in order to reach the farm.
When they arrived, firefighter found a fire burning in the centre of a large barn at Weeks Holstein housing about 35 cattle.
Firefighters managed to extinguish the blaze before it could spread, but Sudsbury said they were lucky.
Given the blustery weather early Sunday morning and the amount of combustible material in the barn it's amazing the situation didn't spiral out of control, said the fire chief.
"It was a little slower trip than usual but we were able to get there. Other than that everything went well, all things considering," said Sudsbury. "It surprised me that we were able to catch it with the amount of wind we were dealing with.”
Fortunately, both the structure and the cattle escaped largely intact, though Sudsbury said a vet was being called in to examine the cattle for smoke inhalation.
The cause of the fire is suspected to be a piece of equipment that malfunctioned and sparked some hay.
About 20 firefighters from the Kensington Fire Department responded to the fire call. They were assisted by the New London Fire Department.
They were on the scene for about three hours.
