Thousands of chickens were killed after a large barn fire broke out in Abbotsford Monday.
The fire started around 6:30 a.m. at a poultry farm in the 4300-block Tolmie Road on the Sumas Prairie.
When firefighters arrived, the blaze had destroyed one barn housing 5,000 chickens and had spread to a second barn containing another 5,000 birds.
“The first barn was basically a write-off when we got on scene,” said assistant fire chief Ron Hull. “The main goal was to stop the spread of the fire at the second barn.”
All the birds in the first barn were killed. Some birds in the second barn were also killed, but the majority survived.
The cause of the fire is not yet known, but investigators do not believe the fire is suspicious.
Hull estimated the cost of the damage at about $1 million.
