Cause of House of Raeford fire still being investigated

The House of Raeford Farms poultry plant in Mocksville, North Carolina, remains closed after it was damaged by a fire on December.

Roy Graber Headshot
(Leaf, Bigstock)
(Leaf, Bigstock)

The House of Raeford Farms poultry plant in Mocksville, North Carolina, remains closed after it was damaged by a fire on December.

In a statement to the press issued on December 20, House of Raeford said that it is still working with investigators to determine the cause of the fire, which was reported in the early morning hours.

Once the company receives the official investigative reports, it will begin cleaning up the facility and making needed repairs.

“The company does not know when the plant will reopen, but is working diligently to get answers,” House of Raeford said in the statement.

While operations have been suspended at the Mocksville plant, employees continue to be paid their regular hourly wages. House of Raeford is advising its hourly employees to pick up their pay stubs weekly at the designated time provided by the human resources department until they are otherwise notified.

House of Raeford Farms has stated that it does not expect to experience any major supply chain disruptions to its customers as a result of the fire.

According to the WATT PoultryUSA Top Companies poultry plants directory, the Mocksville facility's operations include cooking/canning and portion/formed processing.

The incident at the plant in Mocksville is House of Raeford Farms’ second plant fire in 2017. The first one occurred at its plant in Teachey, North Carolina, on February 25. That fire, according to investigators, is believed to have started accidentally in an office of the second floor of the building.

House of Raeford is in the process of rebuilding the facility in Teachey, known as the Wallace plant, with expectations that it will be in operation during the summer of 2018.

During the interim period, other poultry companies, including Sanderson Farms and Mountaire, have agreed to process chickens that were being raised by contract growers for processing at the Wallace plant.

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