The Bates Barn burned down on February 15, 2017. Information about the fire is still being accepted. (Photo: Janice Bates)
It’s been four years, but Janice Bates still remembers the magnitude of the blaze as the original Bates Barn in Long Point burned to the ground.
“It just went up so fast, to watch that fire and then watching the firemen go across, trudging through the snow to get to it, it was unbelievable that it would even happen,” she said.
The Bates Barn was built in 1946 and the property itself has been in the Bates family for years. Janice and Bob Bates bought the property and barn from cousins in the early 1980s. It was the first piece of property they owned, and they used it primarily for farming until it became a wedding and events venue in 2011 when farm weddings became popular.
On Feb. 15, 2017, the Bates got a phone call at 3:20 a.m. telling them about a fire on the hill. They thought it was the homestead.
A recent storm had dumped 42 centimetres of snow and not everything had been cleared out, including the road to the barn. Bob got on his tractor and Janice followed in the car.
“There was a big ball of flame, the orange sky was just too close for the homestead and when I got to the barn, it was fully engulfed at that time. The fire department was already there,” she said.
Our family is beyond disbelief today as we were called at 3:20 this morning (Feb 15, 2017) to a fire at Bates Barn. It…
Posted by Bates Barn on Wednesday, February 15, 2017
Arson was suspected immediately because there was nothing the fire could have started from on-site and there were also visible trails in the waist-deep snow.
“So you could see what looked like two sets of tracks coming from the barn toward the road and then you could see tire tracks at the bottom of the driveway there was someone had turned or came and picked up the arsonist and then drove away with them,” she said.
A series of footprints in the snow leading away from the engulfed Bates Barn to the road. (Photo: Janice Bates)
Because of the recent heavy snowfall, the Bates had to plow enough for the firefighters to make it up to the barn. It was only on March 4 that Bob was able to return to the site to evaluate the damaged machinery.
Totals of the losses include the antiques in the bottom of the barn and the machinery stored on site. There was also machinery needed for the planting that year which had to be re-bought.
“We basically are out one-and-a-half-million dollars. I mean you have insurance and some of the equipment was insured but a lot of the older equipment wasn’t insured and we had to replace it,” she said.
On Aug. 1, 2017, the Bates broke ground to rebuild in the same spot the original barn stood, but every six months, Janice shares another call for information about the blaze.
Janice says new information can always come to light, and a case can always be reopened even if it becomes a cold case.
She says if the case was closed and she finally knew what had happened and who had been involved, she’d be elated because she wants it done and over with.
“To find out who did it would just give us the satisfaction of yes, we know who did it. Then you get on, your mind is a little bit clearer, right because right now you’re always looking you’re always wondering who was it, who’s the one that did it, right,” she said.
Anyone with information regarding the fire is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
