HOUSTON: At least 18,000 cattle were killed in a horrific fire that broke out at a dairy farm in southern Texas.
The fire that broke out at the South Fork Dairy farm near Dimmitt also injured an agriculture worker.
In a statement, Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller said that the fire was the deadliest for cattle in the history of Texas and the probe and cleanup might take some time.
The explosion and blaze ripped through the dairy farm on Monday night before firefighters and police rushed to the scene.
On Facebook, the Castro County Sheriff’s Office said that one person was trapped inside the dairy farm and he was rescued and flown to a hospital in Lubbock.
Miller said the cause of the horrific fire was not immediately clear. He said that once they knew the cause and the facts surrounding the tragedy, they would make sure the public was fully informed so such tragedies can be avoided in the future,” he said.
Castro County Sheriff Sal Rivera said that a system to remove manure from the barns might have gotten “overheated.”
He said methane might have “ignited and then spread out with the explosion and the fire,” adding that an investigation would have to determine the precise cause.
Animal Welfare Institute, one of the oldest animal welfare charities in the US, said in a tweet that farms must do more to protect animals by adopting commonsense fire safety measures.
