On Friday August 19, 2016, the historic Alliston Feed Mill in Ontario burned to the ground. The fire, which has left damage in the millions, is being treated as a criminal investigation.

The owners of Alliston Feed Service Ltd., Peter and Sheila Dockerty, were out of town for a friends’ wedding when they received the call that the fire had broken out at around 2:00 a.m. By the time they raced home at 7:00 a.m., all was lost aside from a couple of fire cabinets and fork lifts.

With the hundreds of farms across the region who rely on their business to feed their livestock in mind, the Dockertys sprang to action and by Monday morning had reopened at an alternate location in Alliston. They have been shipping in feed from four other mills and are determined not to let their customers down and to keep their dedicated employees in work.

The fire marshall has not concluded the investigation yet, but suspects arson as the cause. The Dockertys say it is too soon to say whether they will rebuild on the site they have owned for 21 years.