LEWISTON, Utah – An investigation is underway to determine what caused a massive fire at Oakdell Egg Farms in Lewiston.
Cache County Fire Marshal Jason Winn said the fire started at 4 p.m. on Tuesday. He said about 60 firefighters were there that night, including Cache County Fire District and trucks from Franklin, Idaho, working to get the blaze under control.
No employees or firefighters were injured as a result of the incident.
"It is a long-standing operation, a very large one of the probably one of the three largest in the state of Utah," said Utah Department of Agriculture & Food Commissioner Craig Buttars.
Buttars pointed out that Oakdell Egg Farms also has other farms in Washington and Idaho.
The fire at the 20,000-square-foot barn on Tuesday killed 120,000 chickens.
"They do have one coop that was a total loss," said Buttars.
This isn't the first major loss for Oakdell, nor is it the largest. Butters said that in 2022, the facility had to depopulate because of the high path avian influenza. They had to get rid of 1.5 million birds.
During that time, Buttars said, a lot of facilities in the country were impacted by the avian flu. He said that caused some upward push in the price of eggs.
"With this fire, I don't think it will have near as much of an impact on the consumer," said Buttars. "They were only impacted with one of their chicken facilities, so they will be able to still provide product for the consumers or for their suppliers."
FOX 13 News reached out to the president of Oakdell Egg Farms on Wednesday and is waiting to hear back.
Winn said the State Fire Marshal's Office was in Lewiston on Wednesday.
