TANJUNG MALIM: SOME 60,000 chicks were burnt to death when fire razed a poultry pen at a chicken farm in Kampung Kelawar here yesterday.
Losses were estimated at RM2 million. The cause of the blaze could not be determined.
Farm manager Lim Chee Wah, who was at home, said he received a call from one of his employees at 7.15am, informing him about the fire.
He said some 30 employees, who were at the farm at the time of the incident, tried to put out the fire, but to no avail because of the intensity of the blaze.
“I have been operating here for two years and this is the first time a fire has broken out. I am unsure what caused the fire.
“There were 80,000 chicks in the poultry pen at that time.
“We are monitoring the condition of the remaining 20,000 chicks,” he said at the scene.
There were three poultry pens at the farm.
Tanjung Malim Fire and Rescue Department chief Abdul Rahim Saari said when firemen arrived at the scene at 7.55am, one of the three poultry pens measuring 40m by 135m had been 80 per cent destroyed.
“We doused the fire to prevent it from spreading to the other poultry pens.
“Otherwise, the losses would have been greater,” he said.
Rahim said 15 firemen in two fire engines, one each from Tanjung Malim and Kuala Kubu Baru, were dispatched to the scene and managed to control the fire within 25 minutes.
“We are investigating the cause of the fire and the losses suffered.”