The fire started late Saturday night (May 25) at Forsman Farms in Howard Lake, causing major damage.

The Trebesch family thought they would spend Saturday night around their bonfire, but just after 10 p.m. they noticed massive flames across the field at Forsman Farms.

“It was unbelievable how quick it grew, it was insane,” Andy Trebesch said. “It was the whole sky, it was quite large.”

They called 911. Firefighters from multiple agencies across Wright County showed up, many volunteer firefighters. A barn housing tens of thousands of chickens was leveled, in what a farm spokesperson called a “tragic accident.”

According to Forsman Farms website, the farm started in 1918, and now the fourth-generation family farm sells more than three million eggs a day to some of the nation’s largest retailers.

“Overnight, a fire destroyed one of our barns at our Howard Lake farm. No one was injured and we are grateful that first responders were quickly on scene to put out the fire. Unfortunately, chickens were lost because of the fire. We are evaluating the extent of the damage – which appears to be confined to a single structure – as well as investigating the cause of the fire,” a Forsman Farms spokesperson said.

Cokato resident Eddie Olson heard about the fire on his scanner that he typically uses during severe weather.

“Fires are scary in general, but when you see something of that scale you know, out of control It was just hard to, you know, to think about the chickens, the company, you know, people that work there,” Olson said. “It’s kind of a hard hit because we’re already struggling, you know, with the eggs and the cost of stuff and that takes kind of a bite out of the market.”

The farm is still evaluating the extent of the damage from the fire as investigators work to determine its cause.

Article originally appeared on CBS Minnesota

https://minnesota.cbslocal.com/personality/kirsten-mitchell/

You must have JavaScript enabled to enjoy a limited number of articles over the next 30 days.

Sponsored Content is a special paid section where industry companies provide high quality, objective, non-commercial content around topics of interest to the Food & Beverage Packaging audience. All Sponsored Content is supplied by the advertising company. Interested in participating in our Sponsored Content section? Contact your local rep.

Celebrating our 10th anniversary, The ASSEMBLY Show brings together thousands of attendees and hundreds of exhibitors showcasing the latest assembly technology, equipment, and products.

Converters Expo South is a one day expo that unites converters of paper, film, plastics and nonwovens with industry buyers, specialists and suppliers. With hundreds of attendees expected, Converters Expo South will be the place to find manufacturing partners, check out testing and prototyping equipment, meet with producers of disposables and learn the latest in flexo printing and packaging.

Copyright ©2022. All Rights Reserved BNP Media.

Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing