Hundreds of animals die in barn fire, farm family devastated
DELANSON, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- The family who owns a farm in Delanson is heartbroken after a fire Saturday rendered their barn a total loss and left hundreds of animals dead.
Some of the animals were able to either escape or were pulled from the barn. Christine and Bob Chandler are co-owners of Mariaville Farm on Duanesburg Churches Road. The family-owned farm has been providing locally raised meats to the community for over 15 years.
“It’s not even the money," Christine told NEWS10, "so much as the fact that I love these animals.”
They lost 4 of their sows and all their baby pigs, as well as 8 adolescent pigs, and most of their laying hens. They believe over 200 chickens died.
“I was told though that they did probably die quickly from smoke inhalation and not from being burned to death," Christine said.
Christine had to get her finger stitched up after she was bitten trying to rescue one of the pigs from the flames Saturday night.
Several agencies worked to put out the flames, including Schenectady County Sheriff's Office and Fire Investigations Team, Troopers from the New York State Police Princetown Barracks, Duanesburg Ambulance (DVAC), Mariaville Fire Department, Duanesburg Fire Department, Delanson Fire Department, Plotterkill Fire Department, and the Town of Florida Fire Department from Montgomery County.
The Chandlers are waiting for the insurance company to check out the damages, but Christine doesn’t seem optimistic about the outcome.
“We thought we had better coverage than we actually do. We were told that none of the livestock is covered, which is probably about $10,000 that we’re out," Christine said, "and the amount they’ll give us for the structure probably isn’t even enough to rebuild.”
Since the fire, Christine and Bob's sons have been helping keep things running and figure out what to do next. Their oldest, Bobby, was in shock to see his parents' lifetime dream of their farm, like this.
“It’s very hard to go up there and see the loss, to see the farm I grew up in during my childhood," Bobby said, "and just to see the business take such a blow at this point.”
The farm has a store on Route 7 called For The Love of Bacon. In addition to the family setting up a GoFundMe, they are hoping people will buy their fresh meats and support their shop during this time.
“It’s important to support your local farmer," Bobby said, "especially with farming, you don't really ever get a day off, and now with something like this it's going to take a lot of time to rebuild and figure out where to go."
Christine believes the cause of the fire was likely electrical, but it is under investigation by law enforcement.