Massive Egg Farm Fire Kills 200,000 Chickens
Minnesota blaze is latest disaster to hit U.S. food supply chain
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200,000 chickens have been killed in a massive fire at an egg farm in Minnesota.
The huge blaze is the latest disaster to hit the struggling U.S. food supply chain.
The egg farm in Wright County, Minnesota is said to have lost nearly a quarter-million chickens after a fire burned down a barn over the long Memorial Day weekend.
WCCO-TV has reported that the fire broke out late Saturday night at Forsman Farms in Howard Lake.
Neighbor Andy Trebesch said that he and his family were preparing to have a bonfire outside at his farm when he noticed that there was a separate blaze burning next door.
He said that it was "unbelievable" how quickly the fire grew and consumed the nearby chicken barn.
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“It was insane,” Trebesch recalled of the blaze.
“It was the whole sky, it was quite large.”
According to Fox News, the Wright County sheriff's office has estimated that there were likely 200,000 chickens in the barn when the fire consumed the structure, even damaging nearby buildings.
A spokesperson for the fourth-generation-owned Forsman Farms told the station that the loss was tragic and confirmed that no one beyond the chickens was injured in the blaze.
“Overnight, a fire destroyed one of our barns at our Howard Lake farm," the spokesperson told WCCO.
"No one was injured and we are grateful that first responders were quickly on the scene to put out the fire.
"Unfortunately, chickens were lost because of the fire.
"We are evaluating the extent of the damage – which appears to be confined to a single structure – as well as investigating the cause of the fire."
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WCCO reported that the farm previously sold more than 3 million eggs per day to large retailers across the country.
The extent of the damage is under review at the time of this report.
