The Johnson County Fire Protection District responded to a fire that damaged a chicken barn housing approximately 100,000 chickens at Rose Acre Farms southeast of Knob Noster on Saturday, November 12.

According to a release from the district, the fire was reported by employees around 1 p.m. after staff found fire in the end of one of the facilities. Staff utilized multiple fire extinguishers while attempting to extinguish the fire.

Three Johnson County Fire Protection District stations and automatic mutual aid from the Warrensburg Fire Department for their ladder truck responded. Personnel arrived and were able to quickly extinguish the fire which caused moderate damage to a portion of the structure. Limited loss of chicken life was reported.

“The fire appears to have started inside an exterior wall in the area of electrical wiring,” said Captain Joe Jennings. “A malfunction within the electrical wiring was not ruled out to be the cause of the fire.”

Rose Acre Farms houses approximately 1.7 to 1.8 million chickens. The building damaged by the fire was still able to maintain operations and did not displace the chickens housed in the building.

Photo courtesy of the Johnson County Fire Protection District