Farmer 'blown away' by offers after fire causes guts shed

The Shannonbridge farmer who had two tractors and 200 bales of hay destroyed when his shed was gutted in a fire this week says that his family have been “blown” away by the offers of help since.

Two tractors, a John Deere and Fiat, a baler and around 200 round bales, were destroyed in the fire that struck Padraig Higgins's hayshed in Leabeg, Ballycumber in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

From around half four in the morning, units from Clara and Ferbane worked for 12 hours to bring the fire under the control. A water tanker also had to be brought from Tullamore Fire Station. It's been estimated that the blaze caused between €70,000 and €80,000 worth of damage.

Speaking to the Offaly Independent yesterday, Mr Higgins revealed that the tractors and bailer, as well as the bales of hay were destroyed in the blaze.
The shed also contained a significant amount of silage, most of which was also lost.

As the bales of hay were placed on top of silage, fire officers had to get a teleporter to remove them from the shed. Many of the bales were still smouldering on Thursday afternoon.

Despite this huge setback, Mr Higgins says that his family have been 'blown away' by generosity of their neighbours and wider community in the last two days.

It will be needed as the family have 200 cattle to feed.

“It's been unbelievable. I got around 40 phone calls yesterday from people sending their sympathies and at least seven offers of machine. One lad, Shane Daly from Cloghan is off school until January 9 and he said that wants to come over to fodder the cattle. It's brilliant.

“It gives us a chance because at this time of year the garages are closed. If fact the John Deere garage has offered to give us a tractor, which we'll see about in the new year,” Mr Higgins, who lost his youngest son James in a farm accident in 2008, said.

The senior assistant chief fire officer of Offaly Fire Service Clive Duke said that the fires in hay sheds typically take a long time to subdue.

“It wasn't a complex fire, it was in a single structure fire but a lot of work went in by the fire crews. There was a lot of work and physical manpower involved.”

Once the fire was extinguished, the scene was examined by the garda forensic team, but they don't believe that it was started maliciously.

“We're just blown away by people's offers to fodder the cattle and offers of machinery. In rural communities good will is still alive,” a grateful Mr Higgins said.