While Canadians have been fixated on the wildfires out west, other, less reported fires have been raging across the country. Persistent yet preventable barn fires are causing unimaginable suffering and death each year for hundreds of thousands of animals trapped inside these burning facilities.

On Aug. 10, a tragic fire claimed the lives of approximately 4,000 pigs, when a large barn at a farm in Warwick Township, Ont. went up in flames. On August 1, an estimated 1,000 piglets died in a devastating fire in Oxford County, Ont. Mere weeks before that, approximately 10,000 chickens were killed in an horrific factory farm fire in Abbotsford, B.C. Alarmingly, nearly 18,000 other chickens died in a fire at the same facility five years earlier.

It is hard to fully comprehend the enormous scale of pain and desperation felt by these intelligent animals as they struggled in vain to escape the burning flames and smoke. What we do know, however, is that in the case of most barn fires in Canada, simple fire prevention methods could spare thousands of animals from senseless suffering.

Terrified farm animals often burn to death, while those who manage to escape may suffer respiratory problems and other complications from excessive smoke inhalation.

According to the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, some of the leading causes of preventable barn fires are mechanical and electrical failures, deficiencies in facility design, construction or maintenance, or the misuse of the material or equipment that first ignited (space heaters, blow torches or extension cords, and the location of hay, for example). These factors are compounded by the ever-increasing size of modern-day commercial farms.

In Ontario alone, there are well over 100 barn fires each year, resulting in millions of dollars of damage. Terrified farm animals often burn to death, while those who manage to escape may suffer respiratory problems and other complications from excessive smoke inhalation.