Complete Coincidence? At Least 7 Large Farm Fires Occur in US in Last 10 Days

There were seven major farm fires in the United States over a recent 10-day period.

In the big picture, they were for the most part relatively small-scale events. But with reports of so many fires at food production facilities, you can’t help but notice.

Coincidence? It could be. But it does get your attention.

A barn in Hanover Township, Ohio, burned Monday. Officials initially were concerned that a person was in the burning structure but found no people or animals inside, according to the Butler County Journal-News.

Saturday was a North Smithfield, Rhode Island, horse farm fire. Thankfully, none of the 40 horses was injured, but it was the second fire at the site in two days – a blaze Thursday destroyed a horse ring, WJAR-TV in Providence reported.

Also Saturday was a multialarm fire at an empty barn in Cedarville, New York, according to WKTV-TV in Utica.

That night, tens of thousands of chickens died in a fire at an egg production facility in Wright County, Minnesota, WCCO-TV in Minneapolis said.

On Friday, some 70 dairy cows escaped when their barn in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, caught fire, and they had to be rounded up to avoid being hit by fire equipment, according to the Express-Times in Lehigh Valley.

More tragic was a May 28 fire in Laveen, Arizona, southwest of Phoenix, that killed more than a hundred animals, including chickens, goats and sheep plus two dogs, KNPX-TVreported.

Seven fires at six facilities between May 28 and Monday?

Of course, given the number of house and other fires around the country in a short amount of time, perhaps the farm incidents are no big deal, except, of course, for the affected property owners.

Indeed, some of the blazes were intense, as at the horse farm in Rhode Island and the egg farm in Minnesota.