A million chickens have been killed in a fire at Farina Farms Inc. in Marion County, Illinois.
The farm is one of the largest producers of free-range eggs in the United States.
At least 20 fire departments responded to the situation, according to WAND TV.
The fire broke out at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday and spread across 200-300 yards.
Meteorologist Jacob Dicky wrote on Facebook that the fire was so hot that it produced “rare” cloud called a “pyrocumulus cloud.”
“They form over large fires (typically wildfires) due to the intense, upward vertical motion of air cooling and condensing as it moves higher into the sky,” he explained. “If fires burn hot enough, they can create clouds that produce lighting and rain, called pyrocumulonimbus clouds. That probably isn’t the case in Farina, but the fire is being spotted on radar between 12,000 to 15,000 feet high!”
How the fire started remains unknown.
The situation comes as more than 4 million chickens in Iowa have been scheduled for culling due to bird flu concerns.
Governor Kim Reynolds (R) issued a disaster proclamation over the matter, as Iowa is the leading egg producer in the United States.
The proclamation permits numerous agencies to “implement … stop movement and stop loading restrictions, surveillance and sampling activities, and other control zone measures as are reasonably deemed necessary …”
Earlier this year, a chicken plant in Brady, Texas, caught on fire.
