WILLARDS, Md.- Authorities are continuing to investigate a Tuesday night fire that ruined a chicken house on Bethel Road in Willards.
According to the Maryland State Fire Marshal's Office, the fire broke out shortly after 7 p.m. at the 30-foot by 600-foot structure that belongs to Phillip Lewis.
A first-responder on scene told WBOC that there were no chickens in the poultry house, however there were other farm animals, including horses and pigs, inside that were killed in the fire.
It took 40 firefighters from the Willards and assisting fire companies approximately two hours to get the blaze under control.
The fire caused an estimated $25,000 in damage to the building and another $10,000 in damage to its contents, investigators said.
Jim Creighton, who lives across the street from where the fire took place, said the whole incident seemed to unfold very quickly.
"A lot of smoke. A big cloud of black smoke. And then, because of the fact it was an old chicken house that went on fire, and there were flames, it consumed three quarters of the building withing, I'd say, 15 minutes," Creighton said Tuesday night.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
