More Than 2,000 Hogs Killed in Iowa Barn Fire

A massive barn fire in the small northwest town of Sibley, IA claimed the lives of over 2,400 pigs while rendering the building a total loss.

Per Pork Business' website, by the time fire crews arrived on the scene, the hog confinement was engulfed in flames. No human injuries were reported, but the strength and extent of the fire was compounding by environmental factors.

The Sibley barn fire was made worst by strong eastbound winds, prompting firefighters to focus on protecting two LP gas cylinders adjacent to the building, as well as embers blowing into a nearby cornfield, per Pork Business.

The Osceola County Emergency Management coordinated crews from several different departments to help battle the blaze, including crews from Ashton, Little Rock, and George. Fire officials also noted that Randy Vopel Farms worked diligently to combine an nearby field to create a "firebreak," as it's known, when the airborne embers were threatening to ignite standing corn.

Besides consuming the building, the fire also resulted in the deaths of over 2,400 hogs, an unfathomable number that surely threatens the immediate viability and future of the farm as an operation. At this time, it is not clear the cost of the damage or the identity of the farm-owners.

Find out more about a barn fire in Sibley, IA that claimed the life of over 2,400 hogs on Pork Business' website.