It has been a very strange few years as food processing plants and farms have had unfortunate accidents. Some have had incredible fires, plane crashes, and more. The latest farm explosion in Texas has now not just destroyed food but killed thousands of animals.
An explosion and fire at a dairy farm this week near Dimmitt, Texas, killed thousands of cattle and injured one person, according to Castro County authorities https://t.co/epcgIHBNFJ
— CNN (@CNN) April 13, 2023
Around 18,000 cows have been killed in an explosion at a dairy farm in the Texas Panhandle. One person was also critically injured in the fire.
Fox News reported that the Castro County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that a fire occurred at Southfork Dairy Farm in Dimmitt, Texas. The cows killed in the blast were in a holding area before being brought in for milking.
Local news outlet KFDA reported that very few cows in the holding area survived the fire.
At least 18K cows died in an explosion and fire at a dairy farm in Dimmitt, Texas. pic.twitter.com/jgsYPQSROo
— D. Scott @eclipsethis2003 (@eclipsethis2003) April 13, 2023
“Your count probably is close to that. There’s some that survived, there’s some that are probably injured to the point where they’ll have to be destroyed,” Castro County Sherif Sal Rivera explained to KFDA.
Just after 7:30 pm on Monday Police received multiple calls about an explosion and fire at the farm. At the time some of the callers claimed that there were employees trapped inside the milking barn.
When the police and first responders arrived at the dairy farm it was determined only one woman was trapped inside.
⚠️Over 18,000 dairy cows were killed in the South Fork Dairy Farm explosion/fire on Monday, located in Dimmitt, Texas. pic.twitter.com/iWAEhyz3AX
— Truthseeker (@Xx17965797N) April 12, 2023
The trapped individual was rescued and airlifted to UMC Hospital in Lubbock for treatment. The city of Lubbock is located about 80 miles from Dimmitt.
Officials claim that all the dairy employees were otherwise accounted for and safe.
At this time the Texas State Fire Marshal’s Office is investigating what may have caused the fire.
“The speculation was probably what they call a honey badger, which is a vacuum that sucks the manure and water out and possibly that it got overheated and probably the methane and things like that ignited and spread out and exploded and the fire,” Rivera explained to the local outlet KSAT.
