A poultry house and 15,500 chickens inside of it were lost to a fire on the morning of March 27.
The house, located in Stanley, Virginia, was owned by Gary Cubbage, who is a grower for Shenandoah Valley Organic (SVO).
According to a post on the Stanley Volunteer Fire Department (SVFD) Facebook page, the department was called to the scene at 4:04 a.m., and upon arrival saw the barn measuring 42 feet by 400 feet, on fire, with the blaze spreading toward both ends.
The exact cause of the fire is not known, but the department noted that it did start in the area where gas enters the building.
Sixteen firefighters and six units from the SVFD responded, and had the fire out within about a half hour. SVFD was assisted by the Luray Volunteer Fire Department, the Page County Sheriff’s Department and Page County EMS.
No people were injured in the incident, and the building was insured.
SVO, ranks as the 26th largest broiler producer in the United States. It exclusively processes organic chickens and markets its products under the Farmer Focus brand. According to the WATTPoultry.com Top Poultry Companies Database, processed 2 million pounds of ready-to-cook chicken on a weekly basis during 2022.
However, the company recently announced plans to expand. In late February, SVO was notified it was the recipient of a $3.6 million grant through the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Meat and Poultry Processing Expansion Program (MPPEP).
With that funding, SVO intends to purchase new equipment, install new conveyor lines, implement site modifications and build a new wastewater treatment system. Once that project is completed, the company will double its processing capacity and create 300 jobs.
