A firefighter from Odessa broke his wrist and at least 300,000 chickens perished in a four-alarm fire near Cecilton, Md., that lasted from Monday night into Tuesday morning.
"If it wasn’t the biggest it was one of the biggest fires in Cecil County," said Cecilton Volunteer Fire Company Chief Bobby Plato Jr.
Plato said the blaze started in a chicken farm building in the 600 block of Sassafras Road shortly before 7:30 p.m. The building belonged to ISE America Inc. which is an egg producer with offices in Maryland, New Jersey and South Carolina.
"It’s still under investigation now, but four buildings were affected," Plato said. "Three were completely lost. It went into the fourth building but we stopped it."
All of the buildings were 50-feet wide and 500-feet long, Plato said. He also said one of the buildings alone had 136,000 chickens in it that died.
The Odessa firefighter was injured after falling from a 6-foot ladder and a firefighter from Maryland suffered an eye injury. The Odessa firefighter was transported to Union Hospital in Elkton where he was treated. The second firefighter was treated on the scene, Plato said.
Plato said 20 companies from Maryland and Delaware were called to the scene, which accounted for 125 to 130 firefighters. The fire initially started at the second building on the side, Plato said. It might have been due to some kind of electrical problem in the sand, he said.
"The wind was blowing it into the other structures," Plato said.
Fire crews also had trouble getting to all sides of the building because of water supply issues. The blaze was finally ruled under control at 2 a.m., he said. In total, between $ 6 million and $8 million in damage was sustained, Plato said.
A representative from ISE America said that the dead chickens accounted for 40 percent of their livestock and that they have six barns left on the property, which is about six miles west of Middletown.
She said water and ventilation systems have been restored and that production will resume today.
