LEBANON — Firefighters are fighting back against a blaze that erupted in a chicken coop Tuesday evening. The fire is at the Kofkoff Egg Farm, located at 400 Mack Road in Lebanon. When crews were first called to the scene around 5:40 p.m., you could see the smoke in the air from more than three miles away.
Route 87 is closed between Routes 207 and 289 as firefighters work to put out the blaze. The Department of Transportation said it was expected to be closed for about eight hours.
As of 9:45 p.m. 150 firefighters were on the scene from at least 25 departments including Lebanon and Salem, and from as far away as Old Mystic.
With facilities in Bozrah, Colchester, Franklin, and Lebanon, Kofkoff is the largest egg producer in New England and the largest supplier of eggs to food stores in Connecticut, according to State Rep. Dubitsky who toured the facility in January 2015. The Franklin facility alone is capable of cleaning and packaging over 100,000 eggs per hour.
Managers will not comment on how many chickens were killed in the fire, but The Hartford Courant reports as many as 80,000 are dead.
Firefighters say they will be on the scene throughout the night and into Wednesday.
No one was injured in the blaze.
