Thousands of Chickens Died in Factory Egg Farm Fire

Corwith, Iowa – On March 26, multiple fire agencies responded to a fire at the Hawkeye Pride Egg Farm near Corwith. According to the Belmond Fire Department, water from area towns and lakes was accessed in an effort to bring the massive blaze under control.

The massive size of these buildings made it difficult to contain, and soon spread into adjacent buildings. The decision was later made that all buildings south of the origin of fire, were unsavable due to multiple factors. Fire crews continued to work on extinguishing the original fire building as to keep it from spreading further to the north.

The flames were hard to contain and spread to other buildings and continued to burn into the following day. It is reported that multiple flocks of chickens perished in the fire. Flock size is often 100,000+ in commercial farming operations. Some estimates put the death toll over 350,000 while others put it near 1 million. The actual number of dead chickens is currently unknown.

Factory farm fires are far too common, and they have taken a devastating toll on the animals.

Below is a compilation of various factory farm fires in the U.S. over the past three years.

2025 – Notable U.S. factory farm fires

🐔 Large-scale incidents

• Clearfield, Iowa – Aug 26, 2025
  • ~110,000 chickens killed
• Denton, Maryland – July 1–2, 2025 (two fires)
  • ~35,000 chickens each day (~70,000 total)
• Princess Anne, Maryland – Feb 28, 2025
  • ~41,000 chickens killed
• Benton County, Arkansas – Jan 28, 2025
  • ~30,000 chickens killed

🐖 Other notable incidents

• Nebo, Illinois – July 10, 2025
  • ~600 pigs killed
• Multiple smaller fires across IL, IN, KY, MA, etc.
  • Often:
    • horses, goats, sheep, chickens
    • dozens of animals per fire

2024 – Notable U.S. factory farm fires

Large-scale incidents (tens of thousands to over a million)

• Farina, Illinois – May 29, 2024
  • ~1,200,000 chickens killed (largest single event)
• Ramona, California – July 18, 2024
  • ~70,000 chickens killed
• Orange Cove, California – Feb 9, 2024
  • ~17,000 chickens killed
• Willards, Maryland – Nov 22, 2024
  • ~20,000 chickens killed
• Federalsburg, Maryland – June 23, 2024
  • ~28,000 chickens killed
• Newton, Kansas – Nov 21, 2024
  • ~20,000 chickens killed
• Tonopah, Arizona – July 27, 2024
  • 10,000+ chickens killed
• Sauk Centre, Minnesota – April 30, 2024
  • ~7,000 turkeys killed

• 2023 South Fork Dairy – Dimmitt, Texas
• Animals killed: 18,000 cows (largest single‑fire cow death toll in U.S. history)
• Cause: Fire + explosion; exact ignition source not identified publicly

• Hillandale Farms – Bozrah, Connecticut, 2023 
• Animals killed: ~100,000 hens
• Cause: Not disclosed
• Feather Crest Farms – Kurten, Texas, Early 2024
  Animals killed: Not disclosed, but “likely significant.”

• Forsman Farms – Howard Lake, Minnesota, 2022
• Animals killed: ~200,000 chickens
• Cause: Not reported

Additional Facts about Factory Farm fires

2021–2022 (AWI multi‑year report)
Barn Fires Nationwide (2018–2021)
Total animals killed: ~3 million

Chickens: 98% of all deaths

Largest six fires: 1.76 million chickens killed

Common causes: Malfunctioning heating systems, electrical failures, flammable materials (hay, manure methane), lack of alarms/sprinklers