Cleanup delay frustrates residents

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This article was published 12/08/2025 (284 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

People in Waskada are frustrated with the smell of rotting grain, a wall of flies and an increase in rodents because a grain elevator that burned to the ground three months ago has not been cleaned up.

“It’s disgusting is what it is,” said Waskada resident Don Wickam.

“The odour from it right now is terrible and it’s kitty-corner to the grocery store. There’s a pile of the metal from the weigh scale and all the tubing from the grain spouts. All that stuff needs to be hauled away and they need to get rid of that rotten grain,” Wickam told the Sun Tuesday afternoon.

A resident who asked to remain anonymous said the town has become “inundated with hundreds of flies, as well as mice and rats because of the rotting grain. You can’t sit outside,” he said.

It was early in the morning of May 6 when the 64-year-old elevator was destroyed by fire during an intense thunderstorm. While the cause has not been released, Wickam insisted it was lightning.

“That night, the lightning was terrible. I’ve never had our house shake as bad as that,” he said.

The wooden elevator was built in September 1961 by Manitoba Pool Elevators. The Pool emblem was replaced by Agricore, which closed the elevator in 2000. That company’s logo was still on it when a local Waskada farmer leased it from the Municipality of Brenda-Waskada.

Wickam said the farmer lost his grain and trailers in the fire and suspected that the delay in the cleanup is the fault of insurance companies.

The Sun’s attempts to contact the farmer were unsuccessful.

The municipality’s chief administrative officer, Shelley Boulet, said she hasn’t been able to reach the farmer and is fielding complaints “daily” from people wanting to know what’s being done to remedy the situation.

“I’ve reached out several times in different forms to the ratepayer to try and have it addressed and have not had a reply at this point,” she said.

Not knowing what’s causing the delay is frustrating for everybody in the community, said Boulet.

“It’s all hearsay,” she said, adding, “we’ve heard there are up to five insurance companies, so it’s hard to know. I’ve even gone so far as to offer to call an insurance company if they need somebody to talk to them, to try and push them along.

“We feel really bad for the family because it’s a huge loss for them. It was full of their grain,” she said.

“But when we’re starting to get reports of seeing rats and skunks and raccoons, you worry about safety. We have to look out for the rest of our ratepayers who are worried about the rodents. So, it’s a balance.”

That’s why, Boulet said she and members of the municipality’s council decided to contact a government of Manitoba health inspector, to see if the odour caused by the grain and the increase in rodents were causing a health issue.

The inspector confirmed with the Sun he had visited Waskada but said he wasn’t able to share the details of his report.

The Sun reached out to a government spokesperson asking if there were any findings from the health inspector but didn’t receive an answer by press time.

As the elevator burned on that morning in May, more than 40 firefighters fought the blaze — responding from the Waskada, Deloraine and Melita fire departments.

Crews had it extinguished almost 12 hours after it started and brought in heavy equipment to uncover and put out hot spots.

But even three months later, Boulet said, it still reignites.

“We’ve had the fire department out numerous times because there’s been fires, so that’s been a big concern.”

As Boulet looked out the window from her office she described the site as piles of rubble, twisted steel, adding that earlier this month she sent a letter to the farmer requesting the site be cleaned up, citing the unsightly property bylaw.

“Everybody’s working so hard, and we have a lot of really good people who are volunteering, and we’re trying to make the community look appealing.

“And you have an elevator that burned to the ground pretty much in the centre of town, so, it does not bring much for eye appeal or the smell because you have the rotting grain.”

» mmcdougall@brandonsun.com

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