A compost barn for NC State’s Chicken Educational Unit, which contained manure from the chicken and turkey coops, caught fire early Monday morning at about 2 a.m.
No animals were harmed and no one was in the building at the time, though the compost barn sustained significant structural damage and will have to be torn down, according to Bill Stevenson, NC State University fire marshall. The chicken and turkey coops did not sustain any damage.
Rebuilding the barn is expected to cost about $50,000, according to John Brake, a poultry science professor who works at the Chicken Education Unit.
The compost barn is used to store manure for fertilizer, which is highly flammable. Stevenson said that the cause of the fire was likely due to the manure getting wet in a recent storm and then drying out over a period of several hot days.
Stevenson said that the fire has not been completely put out at press time because the tin roof of the compost barn collapsed and is too hot to move, preventing firefighters from putting out the remaining fires.
Brake said that when manure gets wet it creates more heat as it dries, making fires likely. This is why manure sheds are kept far away from other parts of the site.
“It just got hot and [fires] happen occasionally,” Brake said. “It’s been such a humid summer.”
Ryan Patterson, research operations manager for the Chicken Educational Unit, said that the fire was called in between 2:06 a.m. and 2:10 a.m. by a passerby and that firefighters were on the scene by 2:30 p.m.
Patterson said that though the fire is under control it may burn for two to three more days.
“It’s going to be a time-consuming job but University Field Labs is going to help us out,” Patterson said. “We will hopefully have this one cleared up pretty soon.”
Pieces of tin roof from a poultry compost barn lie twisted and smolder over ashes of compost on Aug. 15. The tin will have to be moved later so workers can apply water to the compost and completely extinguish the fire.
