An estimated 200,000 chickens have been killed after a huge fire destroyed a Minnesota egg farm.
The Wright County, Minnesota, egg farm is said to have lost nearly a quarter-million chickens after a fire burned down a barn over the long Memorial Day weekend.
According to local news station WCCO-TV, the fire broke out late Saturday night at Forsman Farms in Howard Lake.
Neighbor Andy Trebesch raised the alarm while he and his family were preparing to have a bonfire outside at his farm.
He noticed that there was a separate blaze burning next door, adding that it was “unbelievable” how quickly the fire grew and consumed the nearby chicken barn.
“It was insane,” Trebesch recalled of the fire.
“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.”
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.
The news comes as America suffers from widespread shortages of food and supplies.
The Minnesota fire also came on the heels of a blaze at another large chicken processing facility.
On May 23, the Cargill plant in London, Ontario suffered “significant damage” from a large fire over a holiday weekend.
Structure fire at 10 Cuddy Blvd, crews have knocked it down and are in the process of overhaul. Upon arrival heavy fire and smoke conditions that crews were able to knock down and gain access to extinguish the fire. #LdnOnt@LdnOntFire pic.twitter.com/EAjKtZ3o8x
— London Fire Department (@LdnOntFire) May 23, 2022
The plant employs about 700 people and processes a large amount of chicken products for McDonald’s.
