1,000 pigs die in fire at Burlco hog farm

A blaze at New Jersey's largest hog farm killed 1,000 pigs - nearly 15 percent of the state's swine population - on Monday, and left many structures on the Burlington County property "completely devastated," authorities said.

The fire had burned for 45 minutes at the remote Pig Farm Recycling facility in Southampton before flames were spotted at 8 p.m. by a farm employee at home more than a half-mile away, the Burlington County fire marshal said yesterday.

Nine hundred pigs housed in one of three barns died of smoke inhalation before firefighters arrived, Fire Marshal Robert Rose said. A state veterinarian euthanized about 100 more animals that had suffered severe effects from smoke, a state Department of Agriculture spokeswoman said.

The barn's wooden frame fueled the flames, and its metal roof and siding made temperatures more intense.

"It held everything inside and burned like an oven," Rose said.

Nearly 150 volunteer firefighters battled the three-alarm blaze until 3 a.m. yesterday. The fire did not appear to be suspicious, Rose said, and no firefighters were injured.

A lack of water at the scene and the distance of the barns from the main road complicated firefighters' efforts, he said.

"It's not like in the city where you pull up to a hydrant and go," Rose said. "It was a good three-quarters of a mile back there, and water had to be trucked in by tanker and pumped back there from the road."

Pig Farm Recycling Inc. is the largest hog producer in New Jersey, said Mike Westendorf, a livestock specialist with the Rutgers Cooperative Extension. New Jersey last year ranked 44th among the 50 states in hog production, according to the National Pork Board.

The farm's unusual name comes from the "green" agricultural practices employed by owner James Messner Jr., Westendorf said.

"They're among the better farm managers around," Westendorf said. "I hope this hasn't devastated them to the point where they can't recover."