In the barn of a poultry farm in Assen, where 28,500 chickens died in a fire in October, there were no special areas for a fire. That is what Minister Piet Adema writes.
At the beginning of October, a fire started in Graswijk in a barn with chickens in it. All the chickens in that barn didn’t survive. The fire brigade managed to prevent a second barn containing 15,000 chickens from going up in flames. These chickens were rescued by the fire brigade and are still alive.
Solar panels in the area burst due to the fire. Pieces of glass were carried along with the smoke. Farmers were then called upon to temporarily keep animals indoors and not to use crops.
The Party for the Animals had asked questions to the minister about this fire. The party wanted to know, among other things, whether the advice of the Dutch Safety Board has been followed in the poultry sector, to divide the house into several areas. This is possible with ‘fire compartments’.
These areas must ensure that fire and smoke can be stopped for at least 20 minutes. They must prevent the fire from spreading to another fire room. Most stable fires are therefore limited to one fire compartment, the Dutch Safety Board concludes.
“The two stables together formed one fire compartment,” the minister said. However, permission had been granted for the livestock farm to build a fire compartment of almost 3200 square meters with an animal house of 2500 square meters. “As far as is known, no technical installations have been installed in and around this barn with additional risks for fire safety.”
The fire severely damaged the poultry farmer. It was the second time in six years that tens of thousands of animals on his farm died in a blaze. RTV Drenthe spoke to him the day after the fire: