Blaze at poultry farm kills 50,000 chickens

Up to 50,000 chickens are dead after a fire gutted a poultry farm in West Auckland.

A smouldering heap of corrugated iron was all that was left of the Stoney Creek Farm in Henderson yesterday.

The fire had started in the early hours of the morning and fire crews arrived after 1.30am to find three twostorey hatcheries ‘‘well involved’’ in flames.

A spokesman for Fire and Emergency NZ said the barns were each about 150m by 50m, and all were full of birds.

Henderson senior fire station officer Jason Orchard said 50,000 chickens had died in the blaze.

Only 1000 birds, which were in a separate barn that was not touched by the flames, survived.

Firefighters had to contend with dramatic scenes. There were multiple large explosions throughout the night as each barn had its own diesel tank, Orchard said.

The fibrolite cladding on the hatcheries also popped and crackled throughout the fire.

He said apart from the explosions, another challenge was pumping in enough water to fight the blaze.

The remote location was not part of the city’s reticulated water supply, so tankers, including an Air Force tanker, were needed to bring in water from elsewhere.

Nine fire crews were working to put out the blaze until about 4am. Two crews remained at the farm at 10am dampening down hotspots, the Fire and Emergency NZ spokesman said.

Fire and Emergency would remain there until late last night at the least, and most likely today, Orchard said.

The farm was a contract chicken supplier for poultry giant Tegel.

The Fire and Emergency NZ spokesman said there was no initial suggestion as to how the fire started. A fire investigator had been called to determine the cause.