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Blood Reserve fire causes $4M in damage, torches premium hay shed

A fire on the Blood Reserve south of Calgary caused millions of dollars in damage and destroyed a shed full of premium hay on the weekend.

Flames erupted late Friday night, engulfing parts of the Blood Tribe Forage plant, officials say.

A shed containing premium export hay valued at $2.7 million was destroyed, along with the shed itself, worth about $1 million. In total, damage to the plant is pegged at $4 million.

The agricultural chief operating officer for the Blood Tribe, Calvin Crosschild, says high winds over the weekend made it more difficult to contain the fire.

Fire crews from Lethbridge, Nobleford and Fort Macleod helped the Blood Tribe Fire Department get the fire under control.

Power to the plant was shut down and there were no injuries, officials says.

"The forage processing plant is one of our biggest employers and with that it's really kind of devastating to the operation," said Crosschild.

"We run about 24 hours about five days a week. We try to push out about 30 containers a week. And we are exporting internationally to Pacific Rim countries. And right now it's kind of setting us back but we're going to continue exporting," he said.

The band expects the fire to continue to burn for another day or two.

"You know, it's a devastating loss to the tribe. It's set back our operations immensely. But we hope to come out of it one way or the other and continue our operations," said Chief Charles Weasel Head.

The fire is considered suspicious and is being investigated.

Red Crow College on the First Nation was destroyed by arson in August.