Barn burns down in southern Alberta, taking thousands of turkeys with it
Global News
A turkey barn caught fire early Wednesday morning in Vulcan County, destroying the building and killing 9,000 chicks.
A turkey barn caught fire early Wednesday morning in Vulcan County, destroying the building and killing 9,000 chicks.
Vulcan County Emergency Services say they received a call at 2:28 a.m. on Sept. 25, indicating a structure was on fire.
Upon arrival, crews found a metal frame building completely engulfed in flames, with no hope of saving the structure.
“We had a three-department response there. Our first arriving unit did report a fully-involved turkey barn fire and at that point it became a defensive operation,” said Douglas Headrick, regional fire chief and director of protective services with Vulcan County. “There was nothing left to save.”
While Headrick confirmed no humans were injured in the blaze, the destruction was not without significant loss of life.
“Talking with the operators of the facility, it was 9,000 two-week-old turkeys that were inside. They had just taken delivery of them two weeks ago,” said Headrick.
According to Farmtransparency.org, turkeys are typically slaughtered at 10-17 weeks old. With Thanksgiving right around the corner, these turkeys were not likely to be available for purchase yet, though they would have been available in time for Christmas.
Headrick says it took crews several hours to finally beat the blaze, but they were successful in stopping the flames from spreading to nearby buildings.
