GoFundMe started after alpacas, dog lost in barn fire in Southern Alberta

The owner of a barn that burned to the ground south of Millarville last week is planning to rebuild. 

Firefighters responded to the fire, at Prairie Spirit Alpacas in Foothills County, at about 12:30 a.m. on Oct. 11, Diamond Valley Fire Chief TJ Moore said. 

When they arrived, firefighters found a large barn fully engulfed in flames and partially collapsed. 

“The homeowner was rushing to save animals and help them escape from the structure,” Moore said. 

The barn was home to an alpaca herd and a supply of fleece that is used to generate income for the owner. 

Firefighters kept the fire from spreading and helped evacuate animals from the structure, but not all animals survived, Moore said.   

A GoFundMe fundraiser has been set up to help the owner rebuild and seek temporary shelter for the nearly 200 remaining alpacas. 

Owner Carmen Jadick lost her livestock dog, Sophie, and eight alpacas in the blaze. 

“(Sophie) was burnt alive in the barn, and she's been with me for like 15 years,” Jadick said. “The hardest part is losing the animals, but losing her is the hardest."

Jadick is looking for temporary shelter for the surviving animals for the next three to six months. 

“Ideally, I would love to have temporary shelter here, (so) that I can look after them here,” she said. 

More than a year’s supply of the fleece that she uses to make and sell different products was also lost in the fire. 

“I would be sorting it all, over the winter, and making stuff over the winter to sell next year, and I lost the whole year,” she said, “probably more.” 

Jadick said the fire started in a stack of 500 hay bales, delivered that day, that were stacked outside the barn. 

The flames reached 30 feet high, she said, adding the heat melted a steel horse trailer that was 10 feet from the barn. 

Hay is still smouldering days after the fire. 

“They can’t put it out completely, so it’s got to burn itself out," she said. 

With plans to rebuild, she said insurance isn’t covering the full amount needed to replace the barn. 

"People have been very generous,” she said. 

Ten fire trucks were brought in to help fight the fire from Diamond Valley Fire Rescue and the Foothills Fire Department, including Priddis and Spruce Meadows.