By William Crooks
Local Journalism Initiative
A devastating barn fire in the early hours of June 26 has claimed the lives of more than 160 animals at the MacKinnon family dairy farm near Barnston, causing extensive damage to a landmark agricultural operation rooted in the Eastern Townships for generations.
The Ayer’s Cliff Fire Department received the emergency call at 2:02 a.m. and arrived to find the large dairy barn completely engulfed in flames. “Upon arriving on scene, the building was fully evolved from one end to the other,” confirmed Ayer’s Cliff Fire Battalion Chief Dany Brus in an interview. “The owners were able to save a few cattle, calves mainly, but it was too dangerous to go inside the building.”
Farm owner Angus MacKinnon was alerted to the fire by his brother just after 2 a.m. “I came out of the house, and the building was completely engulfed in flames,” he said. “There was nothing we could do.”
The fire consumed the entire main barn, resulting in the loss of approximately 100 Holstein milking cows and 65 bred and soon-to-be-bred heifers. “We were able to save about a dozen calves who are housed in hutches outside the building,” said MacKinnon. “We loaded them into our cattle trailer and moved them away from the building for their safety.”
Firefighters from multiple departments were called in to assist. Brus confirmed response teams from Ayer’s Cliff, Stanstead, North Hatley, Coaticook, and Stanstead Township participated in the operation. “We never ran out of water,” he said. “We were drafting from a pond only about a kilometre away.” Emergency crews remained on scene for over seven hours, leaving around 9:30 a.m.
No injuries were reported, but paramedics remained on standby throughout the morning. “It went well. It wasn’t an easy fire,” said Brus. “The McKinnon family is well known in the region. This is a big loss for them—it’s also a big loss for the community.”
The cause of the fire remains under investigation, but MacKinnon suspects it may have been electrical. “We have an electrical monitoring system, and there was a spike at 1:35 a.m. on one of the entrance panels,” he explained. “There aren’t many motors working at that time of night, so we think that may have been the root cause.”
The damage extends beyond the building and livestock. MacKinnon said one of the four concrete silos on the property is still smouldering. “There’s fire in that, and I have 400 tons of silage in there,” he said. “That will probably take the next six months to burn through because they have no access to it.”
The destroyed barn held not only livestock but also decades of memories for the McKinnon family. “That was the barn I was brought up in,” said MacKinnon. “All the childhood memories with my family are in that barn. And my kids’ memories are there also now. That’s all gone up in smoke.”
Despite the loss, the McKinnons are determined to rebuild. “We’re well insured, and the next generation was in place to take over the farm over the next four, five, six years,” MacKinnon said. “The master plan is to keep the eighth generation here and going.”
Community support has already begun to pour in. “We’re very, very thankful for the outpouring of support we’ve had from the community—phone calls and notes and texts of support and commiseration,” he said. “We’ve been here for a long time. We’re very involved in the community, and we’re touched by the emotional support we’ve had in the last number of hours.”
Though the future will bring many challenges, MacKinnon remains characteristically resolute. “Farmers are optimistic,” he said. “We like looking ahead, not back.”
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