Staff at the Manitoba Agricultural Museum at Austin hope that fire damage can be repaired in time for the regular opening in early May, a spokesman said last week.
On March 29 at 11:30 p. m the Austin Fire Department was called by a neighbour who saw the smoke from one of the museum’s buildings.
The spokesman said that earlier in the day, museum staff were trying to defrost frozen electrical lines that travelled from the pioneer centre to the washroom building.
The fire started in the washroom and then spread to another building which houses tractors. Only one post in the tractor building was damaged from the fire. The washroom building where the fire started is completely destroyed.
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There were no injuries reported, nor was an estimate of the damages provided.
During winter the museum is only partly opened, not all exhibits are available to the public.
The Manitoba Agricultural Museum has Canada’s largest collection of operating vintage farm machinery from 1900 and beyond. The collection includes over 500 implements as well as a pioneer village with over 20 buildings. It is located on a 50-acre site near Austin.
