A barn and in the neighbourhood of 300 goats were lost in a fire southeast of Clive last night (Feb 4th).

Clive Fire Chief Monte Zaytsoff says sadly there wasn't much they could do when they arrived on scene around 10:30.

“We got the call, the roof was already collapsed, he wasn’t home”.

A passerby called in the fire at Meindert Dijkstra's farm on Range Road 24-4.

Clive fire crews were assisted by both Lacombe and Alix Fire Departments.

Dijkstra says his family will survive but it’s a big loss and it will take him about a year to rebuild his herd.

“I have 90 left, the young stuff, but my milking herd is gone, I don’t have milk anymore, nothing to milk, that’s my income”.

The Dijkstra’s moved from Holland 18 years ago.

Zaytsoff suspects the fire may have been electrical in nature, he says it was a significant loss.

“I’m going to guess about 1.2 million”.

(fire in progress, photo's courtesy of Tim Vander Roest, the passerby that called it in to Clive fire)

(a neighbouring barn that thankfully wasn't threatened by Sunday night's fire, it houses the only goats the Dijkstra's now have left)