The Brazos County sheriff’s office has completed its investigation into the January 29th fire at Feather Crest egg farm that destroyed two chicken houses.
A sheriff’s spokesman tells WTAW News that “the cause of the fire is a non-criminal accident.”
No further information was released about the ignition source.
There has been no response from the parent company of Feather Crest, MPS Egg Farms, to our question if they will replace the chicken houses east of Kurten.
One of the two structures that was destroyed also contained an undisclosed number of chickens.
Statement from Sam Krouse, CEO of Feather Crest parent company MPS Egg Farms:
In the evening on Monday, January 29th a fire occurred at Feather Crest farm in Kurten, Texas. The fire affected two chicken houses on site, and we are very sad to say one house had chickens in it at the time that have been lost. We are thankful for the swift actions of our entire team and that they are all safe. We also deeply appreciate the first responders who reached the farm quickly and helped to prevent any further damage. We have no further updates to add at this time (which was February 6, 2024).
Original story, January 30 2024:
No casualties are reported from the fire that began Monday at a Kurten area chicken egg farm.
Jason Ware, Deputy Brazos County Emergency Management Director, says more than one hundred firefighters have been at Feather Crest Farms.
“They are just doing a fire watch at this point because conditions are too dangerous to get anyone inside,” says Ware.
Ware says two metal buildings remain on fire.
“The issue with metal buildings is that they tend to collapse pretty early on and trap the heat, and so that is why the fire is still burning now,” says Ware.
It took about 30 minutes to set up a regular stream of water because there are no fire hydrants.
“We ended up having to set up a tanker or tender shuttle meaning we had to bring in portable water trucks in order to bring water to the scene, and then they had to go to three different locations to use hydrants in Kurten area,” says Ware.
Ware says the Brazos County sheriff’s office is the lead agency in the investigation.
Click below to hear Jason Ware visiting with WTAW’s Bill Oliver.