A fire that started at 18H30 on May 29^th engulfed all but one multi-level aviary house on the Marion County, IL. complex owned by Wabash Valley Farms. There were no reports of injuries. Over twenty fire departments from as far afield as 40 miles responded but were hampered in their efforts by a lack of available water. The cause of the fire in relatively recently constructed units and contributory factors to rapid spread including proximity of units are under investigation.

It is estimated that 1.4 million hens were lost in the conflagration. This further reduced the national flock that is down by close to 10 million hens following outbreaks of HPAI over the past two months.

Wabash Valley operates other egg-production complexes in Zionsville, OH. and DuBois, IN.