A large fire at a northern Iowa egg farm has caused injuries to a local firefighter.
A spokesperson with Hawkeye Pride Egg Farm in Corwith confirmed the injury to Brownfield Friday afternoon. The spokesperson said the fire, which developed Thursday night, also killed several flocks of hens. No employees were harmed.
The company says it’s still assessing the scale of the damage, and a cause has not yet been determined.
According to the Belmond Fire Department, the massive size of the site’s buildings made the fire difficult to contain and it rapidly spread to adjacent buildings. The department says a decision was later made that all buildings south of the origin of fire were unsavable due to multiple factors. The fire had not yet been contained as of late Friday morning.
Hawkeye Pride processes eggs from approximately 6 million hens on site, according to Iowa Community Development. The company, part of the Versova Family of Companies, is home to hens living in conventional and cage-free housing. Their production operations include pullets, cage free pullets, egg-layers, and cage free layers. The facility processes both shell eggs and liquid eggs.
Hawkeye Pride’s spokesperson tells Brownfield it appreciates “the care of our community during this difficult time.”
