2023 Texas dairy farm explosion

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2023 Texas dairy farm explosion
The explosion as pictured by Castro County Emergency Management
DateApril 10, 2023
TimeBefore 7:30 pm (CST)
LocationCastro County, Texas, US
DeathsApprox. 18,000 cattle
Non-fatal injuries1 person

An explosion occurred on April 10, 2023, at the South Fork Dairy Farm about ten miles (16 km) south of Dimmitt, Texas, United States. The explosion and subsequent fire killed approximately 18,000 cows and injured one person. It was one of the deadliest fires involving animals, and the deadliest fire involving cattle in at least a decade. It wiped out 3% of dairy cattle in Texas.

Background

The South Fork Dairy Farm is a dairy production facility located in Castro County, Texas about ten miles (16 km) south of the county seat Dimmitt. The county is the second largest dairy-producer in the United States, with more than 147,000,000 pounds (67,000,000 kg) of dairy being produced in February 2023, according to the United States Department of Agriculture.[1] The county houses 30,000 cattle according to the 2021 Texas Annual Dairy Review.[2]

The facility encompassed an area more than 2,100,000 square feet (200,000 m2).[3]In 2019, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality authorized the South Fork Dairy Farm to double the amount of cattle present at their facility, from 11,500 to 23,000. The permit also enabled the farm to increase manure production by 50%.[1] Immediately before the explosion, the facility was home to 19,000 cattle.[4] The vast majority of them were Holstein and Jersey cows.[5]

Explosion

Local police stated that they received eight calls of the incident just before 7:30 p.m. (CST) on April 10, 2023.[6] Reports were of a loud boom, followed a massive plume of smoke that could be seen billowing from miles away.[2] According to emergency services, it was stated that some employees were trapped in the milking building.[6]

After an initial explosion, a fire broke out which spread swiftly across an area of holding pens. Thousands of cattle were packed together in tight conditions in the pens; as a result, the vast majority of them were killed.[7][5]

Though callers feared that multiple employees were trapped, only one woman needed rescuing. She was flown to a hospital in Lubbock, Texas.[8]

Aftermath

The explosion and subsequent fire killed approximately 18,000 cattle, equivalent to around 20% of the cattle slaughtered in the United States on a regular day. It killed almost 3% of the dairy cattle population in Texas.[9][5] The resulting fire was described by the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) as one of the deadliest fires involving animals and the deadliest cattle-related incident since the institute began records in 2013.[10] Prior to the Castro County explosion, deaths of cows in barn fires had totaled 7,300 over that ten-year period.[11] The AWI has proceeded to plead to the United States federal government to implement laws aimed at reducing the number of animals that are exposed to such accidents.[12]

According to Castro County judge Mandy Gfeller, each cow was worth around US$2,000. She stated that the financial losses, excluding the destruction of equipment and buildings, could amount to tens of millions of dollars.[13]

Potential cause

Shortly after the fire, Sal Rivera from the Castro County Sheriff's Office said that the explosion could have been caused by a machine known as the "honey badger," which he described as a "vacuum that sucks the manure and water out". Authorities believe it may have overheated, igniting internal gases such as methane.[14] The term honey badger was later clarified as being called a honey vac. Additional speculation included the possibility that the barns might have been fitted with non-fire-resistant insulation that would have enabled the explosion to ignite a fire that would spread across the 40 acres (16 ha) facility. In addition, being large cross-ventilated barns (which is of benefit to cows) meant that hundreds of fans could exhaust smoke, resulting in a massive smoke cloud that was visible from miles around.[15]

Fire marshal's finding

Dairy Management Inc. stated that "We are deferring to the appropriate authorities to determine the cause."[15]

Investigators from the Texas Fire Marshal's Office determined in May 2023 that the incident was accidental and that it began with an engine fire in farm equipment being used to clean the barn, specifically a 'manure vacuum truck'.[16][17] After the operator was unable to drive the burning truck clear of the barn, he had tried to put out the fire in the truck using two extinguishers, to no avail.[18]

See also

  • Barn fire – fire involving a livestock enclosure building
  • Mass mortality event – Rapid, catastrophic die-off of organisms

References

  1. ^ a b Douglas, Erin; Lozano-Carver, Jayme (April 13, 2023). "More than 18,000 cows are dead after dairy farm explosion in Texas Panhandle". The Texas Tribune. Retrieved April 14, 2023.
  2. ^ a b Baio, Ariana (April 13, 2023). "Fiery explosion at Texas dairy farm kills 18,000 cows". The Independent. Retrieved April 14, 2023.
  3. ^ "Texas dairy farm explosion kills 18,000 cows". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved April 14, 2023.
  4. ^ Rose, Andy (April 13, 2023). "Thousands of cattle killed in explosion and fire at Texas dairy farm". CNN. Retrieved April 14, 2023.
  5. ^ a b c Jervis, Rick (April 12, 2023). "18,000 cows killed in explosion, fire at Texas dairy farm may be largest cattle killing ever". USA TODAY. Retrieved April 14, 2023.
  6. ^ a b Rumpf-Whitten, Sarah (April 12, 2023). "Texas dairy explosion leaves at least 18,000 cattle dead, 1 person critically injured". Fox News. Retrieved April 14, 2023.
  7. ^ Ponder, Erica (April 13, 2023). "18,000 cows reportedly killed in 'deadliest' barn explosion at dairy farm near Lubbock". Dimmitt, Texas: KPRC-TV. Archived from the original on April 18, 2023. Retrieved January 16, 2024.
  8. ^ Bahari, Sarah (April 13, 2023). "More than 18,000 cattle killed in Texas dairy farm explosion". Dallas News. Retrieved April 14, 2023.
  9. ^ "Dimmitt explosion that killed 18,000 cows in explosion likely caused by 'overheated equipment'". Houston Chronicle. April 13, 2023. Retrieved April 14, 2023.
  10. ^ Sorace, Stephen (April 13, 2023). "Texas dairy farm explosion 'by far deadliest barn fire for cattle' after at least 18K killed, nonprofit says". FOX News. Retrieved July 23, 2023.
  11. ^ Shaw, Neil (April 14, 2023). "18,000 cows killed in explosion at US dairy farm". Wales Online. Retrieved April 17, 2023.
  12. ^ "More than 18,000 cows die in Texas dairy farm explosion". Sky News. Retrieved April 14, 2023.
  13. ^ Loehrke, Janet; Beard, Stephen J. (April 14, 2023). "18,000 cows – enough to cover 26 football fields – killed in devastating Texas dairy farm fire". USA TODAY. Retrieved April 14, 2023.
  14. ^ Debusmann, Bernd Jr (April 13, 2023). "Texas dairy farm explosion kills 18,000 cows". BBC News. Retrieved April 14, 2023.
  15. ^ a b Morgan, Tyne (April 14, 2023). "What We Now Know About What Caused the Large Fire at a Texas Dairy Farm". Dairy Herd. Farm Journal, Inc. Retrieved April 17, 2023.
  16. ^ Jaxie Pidgeon (May 25, 2023). "'We'll learn from it': Dimmitt dairy farm explosion caused by engine fire in manure truck". Everything Lubbock. Nexstar Media Group.
  17. ^ Jayme Lozano Carver (May 19, 2023). "Here's how the fire that killed nearly 18,000 Texas cows got started". The Texas Tribune. Austin. Retrieved February 8, 2024.
  18. ^ "Massive Texas dairy farm blaze caused by engine fire in manure hauler". Dimmitt, Texas: Associated Press. May 18, 2023. Archived from the original on October 28, 2023. Retrieved January 20, 2024.

Further reading

Retrieved from "https://mdwiki.org/wiki/2023_Texas_dairy_farm_explosion"