Fire destroyed 21,000 chicks and one of two barns at the Martin Vredegoor poultry operation north of Lethbridge Jan. 7.
A second barn containing about the same number of birds was saved.
Fire chief Sam West from Picture Butte, Alta., said firefighters got the call at about 9 a.m. and arrived on the site near the hamlet of Shaughnessy, Alta., to find one barn fully engulfed. Fire crews also responded from nearby Coalhurst, Alta.
West said the cause of the fire remains under investigation. Crews remained on the scene to protect the second barn for about five hours. Unlike recent grass fires, wind co-operated in the handling of this blaze by keeping smoke from impeding visibility on nearby Highway 25, West said.
