More than a quarter-million hens killed in fire at chicken farm near Ceres
More than a quarter-million egg-laying hens perished in a massive fire at a chicken farm south of Ceres on Thursday.
Keyes Fire Chief Erik Klevmyr said there were between 280,000 to 300,000 hens inside the approximately 220 by 500 foot building at the facility owned by Gemperle Farms at East Barnhart and Bystrum roads.
The origin and cause of the fire remains under investigation but Stanislaus Regional Fire Investigation Unit supervisor Dustin Bruley said, “Preliminary information we have received is that the cause of the fire was mechanical; employees were working on a cooling unit prior to the fire’s discovery.”
Nearly every fire agency in Stanislaus County, and two water tenders from Merced County, responded to the blaze, which took about four hours to contain, said Ceres Fire Department Battalion Chief Jeff Serpa.
The facility had wells and two 40,000-gallon water tanks, “but with the amount of water we were flowing, it did not last long,” Serpa said.
Crews accessed the hydrant system from nearby Bronco Wine Co., running 1,800 feet of hose between the two sites. It supplied water for an engine and one of three ladder trucks.
Eight water tenders also shuttled water between Bronco and the farm.
“We shuttled approximately 350,000 gallon of water over four hours,” Serpa said.
The building was destroyed but crews prevented the fire from spreading to an adjacent building of similar size that housed just as many hens.
Officials did not have an estimate on the cost of the destroyed building and loss of the hens. A representative at Gemperle said the fire will not cause a major disruption in the egg supply.
Gemperle, based on Lander Road between Turlock and Hilmar, is a prominent part of the egg industry in Stanislaus and Merced counties.
In all, 11 trucks, eight water tenders, three ladder trucks and six chief officers, with a total of about 60 personnel, responded to the fire. Crews were on scene for a total of eight hours.
This story was originally published April 24, 2020 at 11:25 AM.
