Barn, 17,000 turkeys lost in Pennsylvania fire

A barn and the 17,000 young turkeys inside were lost in a fire in Perry County, Pennsylvania.

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(Newport Fire Department | Facebook)
(Newport Fire Department | Facebook)

An estimated 17,000 commercial turkeys were lost when a barn caught fire in Perry County, Pennsylvania.

According to a post on the Newport Fire Department (NFD) Facebook page, firefighters were paged at around 2 a.m. on December 23 to the scene in the 1300 block of Turkey Bird Road for a structure fire.

Upon arrival, the Newport Fire Department and other responding agencies discovered that a barn fire was “well off,” but the fire was contained to that one barn. The 17,000 turkeys lost were described as “young.”

A cause of the fire has not yet been determined.

While the identity of the farm operators or the company for which the turkeys were raised were not identified, Facebook users making comments on the NFD’s post expressed concerns and offered prayers to people named Mark and Stacey.

The NFD was on the scene for about 3.5 hours.

“Thank you to all the mutual aid companies. It’s great to know when you call for help the neighboring companies are always there,” NFD stated in its Facebook post. “Thanks also goes out to Firebox Grill for bringing food and drink for everyone.”

Pennsylvania, according to the recent U.S. Department of Agriculture Turkeys Raised report, ranks as the nation's ninth largest turkey-producing state, with its most recent annual count projected at 6.6 million.

Four turkey companies listed in the WATTPoultry.com Top Companies Database – Plainville Farms, Empire Kosher Poultry, Koch’s Turkey Farm and Jaindl Turkey Sales – are headquartered in Pennsylvania.

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