Crime & Safety

Fire Destroys Barn on Gilbert Stuart

A Sunday night fire destroyed a barn but spared its tenants – a group of livestock.

A Sunday night fire may have destroyed a barn, but it spared its tenants – a group of livestock, including an expecting mother pig.

The North Kingstown Fire Department received a call of a brush fire off Gilbert Stuart Road near Tower Hill Road around 9:18 p.m. Sunday. Additional crews and equipment, including water tankers from Jamestown and Exeter, were called to the scene when firefighters realized it wasn't just the brush that was on fire.

"Sadly there wasn't anything to save. It was a complete goner by the time we go there," said Fire Chief Fenwick Gardiner.

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Crews believe the fire was started by a heating lamp that was knocked over by an expecting mother pig. According to Gardiner, the barn's caretaker had set up the heater in anticipation of the pig's delivery to keep her warm.

Though the barn was beyond saving, the soon-to-be mother pig and the other livestock escaped the barn safely.

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Units were on scene for more than two hours knocking down and containing the fire.


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