Vassalboro firefighters are investigating whether a heat lamp was the cause of a fire Wednesday morning that destroyed a small barn housing baby chickens on South Stanley Hill Road.
The fire is the second chicken coop fire in two days in the area. A chicken coop in Pittsfield burned Monday.
Vassalboro Fire Chief Eric Rowe said the blaze at Full Circle Farm, on South Stanley Hill Road, was reported around 8 a.m. Wednesday and firefighters were at the scene for about an hour.
About 27 chicks were lost in the fire, said Bernie Welch, who owns the farm. The cost to replace the building, which also was used to prepare products for community-supported agriculture operations, and buy more chickens could go up to $30,000, he estimated.
Rowe said that it was a small coop, “roughly 20 feet long and 10 feet wide,”
“It was a like a pole barn and the chickens were free-range,” Rowe said. “There were some small chicks in there.”
He said the fire could have been caused by a heat lamp in the coop. “That’s what they’re looking at right now,” Rowe said just after 11 a.m. “It’s not something I’m going to call the fire marshal’s office on. It’s a total loss.”
Rowe said nobody was hurt during the fire.
Winslow firefighters were called to the scene Wednesday morning under a mutual aid agreement, but they were sent back because firefighters at the scene reported the fire was out.
Nothing like this has happened in the 13 years Welch has run the farm, Welch said.
“Life goes on,” he said. He said he was grateful that the fire at least didn’t touch his house.
Full Circle Farm still is planning to hold its weekly farmers market at the farm this Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon.
The farm is a community-supported agriculture farm that produces berries, fruit and vegetables, according to the farm’s Facebook page.
The Monday fire in Pittsfield was reported at 1:55 p.m. behind a residence on Madawska Avenue. The cause wasn’t available.
Amy Calder — 861-9247
Twitter: @AmyCalder17
Madeline St. Amour — 861-9239
mstamour@centralmaine.com
Twitter: @madelinestamour
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