Hundreds of thousands of chickens are dead after a massive fire Wednesday night at an egg farm in rural Florida.
Three large barns containing around 80,000 chickens each went up in flames in Dade City overnight, according to Spectrum Bay News 9. The facility is reportedly owned by Cal-Maine Foods.
Chicken Farm Fire Update: Pasco Fire Division Chief Shawn Whited said close to 250k chicken killed. “We are out in rural eastern Pasco County. There aren’t any hydrants out here, so we had to bring in tanker trucks.” https://t.co/xW3dhmuRbE pic.twitter.com/gAu5T5zm74
— Spectrum Bay News 9 (@BN9) December 17, 2020
Pasco County firefighters arrived at the scene of the blaze around 1 a.m. and had to raise a second alarm for reinforcements to combat the fire, according to Bay News 9. Crews were reportedly forced to use tanker trucks, as the rural location did not have fire hydrants nearby. (RELATED: REPORT: Anti-Alcohol Pastor Arrested On Child Pornography Charges)
Crews from four different counties were ultimately needed to get the situation under control, according to Pasco Fire Division Chief Shawn Whited.
“There aren’t any hydrants out here, so we had to bring in tanker trucks. We had assistance from Polk County Fire Rescue, Hernando County Fire Rescue, Sumter County Fire Rescue, along with Pasco County Fire Rescue to fight the fire since about 1:00 this morning,” he told the outlet.
Propane tanks within the barns exploded as the flames spread, intensifying the fire, according to Bay News 9. The source of the fire is currently still unknown, and there were no human injuries caused by the incident, Bay News 9 reports.