Farmer faces a grim task: Burying nearly 4,000 hogs
Investigators haven’t found cause of 8-hour blaze that destroyed 2 barns
The investigation into the massive barn fire that killed nearly 4,000 hogs on a Lynn Township farm over the weekend continued Monday, while the farm’s owner began the grim task of burying the animals’ burned carcasses, a state Department of Environmental Protection official said.
DEP spokeswoman Colleen Connolly said in an email that farmer Timothy Billig opted to bury the hogs on site, instead of disposing of them in some other way, such as sending them to a landfill.
The process required Billig to follow the DEP’s emergency guidelines for mass mortality, which included excavating a trench and covering the bodies with at least two feet of soil.
Lynnport Community Fire Company Chief Clark Mantz said Monday that investigators had not yet determined the cause of the fire, which burned for about eight hours at the 7861 Spring House Road property.
Mantz said a state police fire marshal was expected to return to the farm late Monday.
“It’s a terrible situation,” Mantz said.
Billig could not immediately be reached for comment.
Firefighters were summoned to the farm at 5:41 a.m. Saturday morning and found two barns ablaze.
Water was siphoned from a nearby pond to douse the wood and metal structures, which collapsed during the fire.
Fire crews from Lehigh, Berks and Schuylkill fought the fire, but were unable to save any of the hogs. No humans were injured.
Because of the large number of livestock killed, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is assisting in the investigation and cleanup, Mantz said.