More than 18,000 cattle died and one worker was injured Monday in a massive fire that started at a Texas dairy farm, officials said.
Only a few animals at the South Fork Dairy survived the accident. Officials told KFDA.
“There are some survivors, some that are probably injured to the point where they have to be destroyed,” Castro County Sheriff Sal Rivera said this week.
The injured man was trapped inside the facility but was rescued by fire crews and taken to a Lubbock hospital about 80 miles from the Dimmitt business, the sheriff’s office said. According to KAMR.
“The intensity of the fire and the number of people that were there, we were very fortunate that it was less than we had,” Rivera said. According to KVII. “We only had one casualty it could have been a lot worse.”
The Animal Welfare Institute estimates the incident is the deadliest barn fire in Texas and has involved livestock since the organization began tracking fires in 2013. KFDA reported.
According to images and video, a huge plume of black smoke can be seen from the farm Posted on social media.
According to KAMR, Rivera said the initial explosion occurred around 7:30 a.m. and may have been caused by a machine malfunction.
South Fork Dairy reportedly has about 60 employees and has been open for less than a year. This is the first reported fire or explosion in the business that helps make Texas one of the top milk producers in the nation.
