The owners of a popular attraction outside of Brandon, Man., Are determining their losses after a fire ripped through buildings Wednesday night.
Firemen from CFB Shilo and Brandon were called to Westman Reptile Gardens shortly after 7 p.m. The property is home to several species of reptiles, rodents, and horses and is designated as one of Manitoba’s top attractions.
“Everyone is still processing what happened,” said Erika Shelvey, whose family owns the reptile gardens, on Thursday. “It all happened so fast … it just breaks your heart, you watch and you can’t do anything.”
Shelvey said she and her boyfriend rushed to the scene from their house, about five minutes away, after hearing about the fire. By then, the neighbors had started collecting horses when firefighters came on the scene.
“The fire trucks came as fast as they could,” she said. “We had fire trucks from Shilo, from Brandon, and many of the local Hutterite colonies had supplied watercraft as well.”
A total of nine buildings on her family’s property have caught fire, according to Shelvey. Five were completely destroyed, according to firefighters.
Firefighters were on site throughout Wednesday evening, leaving around 11 p.m. (Submitted by Erika Shelvey).
She believes “hundreds and hundreds” of rodents – which would be fed to the reptiles – were lost in the fire. The firefighters managed to save the family home, garage, and main building where the reptiles were.
“We’ve probably had over a thousand mice, rats, hamsters, guinea pigs, and all kinds of rodents,” said Shelvey. “We had only saved 29 cages out of hundreds and hundreds of cages.”
Along with the building that housed the rodents, a building that contained a walk-in freezer with feed and a barn were destroyed.
Lori Truscott, a spokeswoman for CFB Shilo, said crews could get the fire under control within 20 minutes of their arrival. The military base sent nine firefighters and four fire engines.
No injuries were reported.
According to Shelvey, fire investigators believe the fire started with a spark from an electric fence.
Quick neighbors help out
Shelevey credited quick-acting neighbors and complete strangers for intervening to help their family.
“There [were] Probably 30 or 40 people tried to drum up the horses, “she said.” There was another neighbor who tried to get this out of the way. “
She said the horses were safe on a neighbor’s property for the time being.
Truscott said fire trucks and staff left the scene around 11 p.m. on Wednesday.
Shelvey said her family is still trying to capture what happened and is now looking to an insurance company to help calculate the losses. She started a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for the family.
“We just wanted to thank everyone who came out to help – the neighbors, the fire engines, as well as everyone involved,” she said. “We are very grateful for everything.”
