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LEWISTON, Cache County — A fire at one of Utah's top egg suppliers has sparked the question of whether egg prices and supplies will be impacted.
The fire broke out Tuesday afternoon about 4 p.m. in one of the chicken barns at Oakdell Egg Farms in Lewiston, north of Logan.
The company's president told KSL-TV that a power washer suddenly caught on fire, and that caused the barn to catch on fire.
The fire destroyed the barn and killed more than 100,000 chickens. That farm alone produces more than 1 million eggs a day. Many of those eggs end up in grocery stores around the state.
"It was a very unfortunate event, but we feel very fortunate that it was not worse than it was," said Cliff Lillywhite, president of Oakdell Egg Farms.
Lillywhite doesn't expect there will be an impact on egg prices.
"The short answer is no," he said. "Will it hurt us? Yes, it will. But there is enough eggs out there. We have enough eggs in our system that we can backfill in some of that."
Other difficult times
It was just two years ago Oakdell Egg Farms was devastated by the bird flu, or avian influenza, and had to put down 1.5 million birds at the farm.
"We've been through some tough times up there," Lillywhite said.
Craig Buttars, commissioner of the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food, says this is the worst agricultural fire he's seen in the state. However, he is grateful it didn't catch other barns on fire or shut down production for the company.
"They are very fortunate," Buttars said. "No injuries or loss to human life. There may be some opportunities for us to provide some financial assistance. And of course, we will assess that situation and see if there is a way for us to assist that business."
Firefighters are being credited for keeping the fire contained despite the fact that there are no fire hydrants in the area, and water trucks had to be used to fight the fire.
"We had seven tenders that were bringing water to us," said Jason Winn, the fire marshal of Cache County Fire District. "We were actually pushing 1,100 gallons of water a minute for the whole five hours while we were up there."
