Over 18,000 cows die in explosion in Texas farm marking deadliest barn fire in US

In what has become the deadliest barn fire in the US, over 18,000 cows died after an explosion at a farm in Texas.

More than 18,000 cows died in Texas after an explosion and fire occurred at Southfork Dairy Farms, a family dairy farm on Tuesday. The incident marks the deadliest barn fire on record in the US, said a Reuters report. The cause of the fire is still unknown and the family who owns the farm has not made any remarks on the incident so far.

Images shared by the Castro County Sheriff’s Office showed flames racing through a building and into holding pens. The Sheriff’s office further said firefighters rescued one person who was trapped inside the burning building.

All roads leading to the farm have been closed for public health and safety.

The massive fire prompted the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI), among the oldest US animal protection groups, to call for federal laws to prevent barn fires which kill hundreds of thousands of farm animals each year.

Only a few US states have adopted fire protection codes for such buildings and there are no federal regulations protecting animals from such fires, said Reuters quoting AWI.

The blaze at the Texas farm was the most devastating US barn fire involving cattle since the AWI began tracking such incidents in 2013. Around 6.5 million farm animals have died in such fires in the last decade, most of them poultry.

This was first published in India Today

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