An early morning fire was reported on December 17 at a Cal-Maine Foods operation in Dade City, Florida.
According to a report from ABC Action News, the fire was reported around 11 a.m. by a person who lived on the property.
Three barns were destroyed, each of which had chickens inside. It was estimated that at least 250,000 birds were killed.
Pasco County Fire Chief Shawn Whited told the news outlet that barn walls were collapsing and propane tanks created additional hazards, so firefighters performed their work from outside of the barns. Also, because the facility was in a rural area, there were no fire hydrants in the vicinity and water had to be trucked in.
Pasco County fire officials received mutual aid from fire departments from Hernando, Sumter and Polk counties.
The cause of the fire has not yet been reported.
For Cal-Maine Foods, the world’s largest egg producer, this was not the only fire it experienced in recent history. In November 2019, the company lost a hen house at its egg production facility near Chase, Kansas.
Other egg companies in the United States to experience fires in 2020 include S&R Egg Farm, in October; Gemperle Farms, in April; Trillium Farms, also in April; Michael Foods, in February, and Konos, in January.
Meanwhile, Opal Foods in June had to deal with damage to barns at its location in Roggen, Colorado, that was caused by strong winds.
Headquartered in Jackson, Mississippi, Cal-Maine Foods, had a flock of nearly 45 million hens at the conclusion of 2019, according to the WATTPoultry.com Top Companies Database. The company’s key product categories include table eggs and egg products.
Earlier this week, Cal-Maine Foods announced that it was investing $40.1 million to expand its cage-free egg production at its facility in Gurthrie, Kentucky. Once the project is completed, the facility will house about 1.5 million cage-free hens and 300,000 pullets.
