165,000 chickens killed in massive Abbotsford barn fire
Multiple barns caught fire Thursday afternoon in rural Abbotsford, destroying tens of thousands of birds and sending one firefighter to hospital.
A devastating barn fire in rural Abbotsford Thursday destroyed multiple structures and killed approximately 165,000 chickens, the city confirmed Friday.
The fire broke out around 4 p.m. on Gladwin Road in an area south of the city. Abbotsford Fire Rescue Services deployed 13 crews to combat the blaze, eventually bringing in excavators to help contain the flames as the intensity made conventional firefighting difficult.
One firefighter was hospitalized due to heat exhaustion. The effort to suppress the fire required Gladwin Road to close for several hours, disrupting traffic in the region.
The scale of the loss — more than 160,000 birds — represents a significant blow to the agricultural operation and underscores the vulnerability of large-scale livestock facilities to fire risk. Agricultural buildings, particularly those housing animals in dense conditions, can become tinderboxes if ventilation systems malfunction or electrical issues spark.
No cause has been announced, and the investigation is ongoing. For the farm operation and the broader Lower Mainland agriculture sector, the incident will likely prompt renewed focus on fire-prevention protocols and insurance coverage for high-density livestock operations.