Dry nitrogen was added to the mix to displace oxygen and put out fire in Baldwin, Georgia
Firefighters from multiple agencies responded to a silo fire at the Fieldale Farms feed mill in Baldwin, Georgia.
Units from Baldwin, Habersham and Banks counties worked to bring the fire, which occurred on November 26, under control.
Habersham County Fire Chief Chad Black told WATT Global Media that the Fieldale operation is located across the street from the Baldwin fire station, and the reporting party walked to that station to notify them that there appeared to be some charring at the top of a silo containing soybeans.
Baldwin was the first fire department on the scene at around 6:30 a.m., Black said.
While the exact cause of the fire has not been determined, Black said it was apparent “some type of flash fire had occurred.”
The fire was eventually put out when four tons of dry nitrogen was added to displace the oxygen, he said.
There were no injuries reported in connection with the fire.
This is at least the second time in the past five years firefighters dealt with a situation at Fieldale Farms’ Baldwin feed mill. In July 2017, the facility was damaged and an employee was transferred to a nearby hospital to be treated for burns suffered as a result of an explosion.
Fieldale Farms, according to the WATTPoultry.com Top Companies Database, operates two slaughter plants, one further processing plant, two feed mills and three hatcheries. The company processed 16.3 million pounds of ready to cook chicken on a weekly basis in 2020 and ranks as the 15th largest broiler producer in the United States.
Fieldale Farms also topped Feed Strategy’s Companies to Watch list. The Feed Strategy Top Companies list includes all feed producers globally that produce 1 million or more metric tons of feed annually. The Companies to Watch list includes all companies in the world that produce 800,000 metric tons of feed or more, but don’t quite reach the million-metric-ton mark.
Fieldale Farms, within the past year, produced 950,000 metric tons of feed last year. Other U.S. feed producers to make the Companies to Watch list included Rembrandt Enterprises, MPS Egg Farms, Center Fresh Group and Prairie Star Farms.
