A multi-alarm fire destroyed a chicken coop and shed near SW 170th Street and 21st Ave SW in Normandy Park early Tuesday morning, Feb. 9. Several chickens apparently perished in the blaze, which started around 12:30 a.m. The fire was started by a heat lamp in a chicken coop, then spread into the attic space of the house. The Burien/Normandy Park Fire Department made a quick stop on it, and contained the damage to approximately $30,000. BTB Reader Derek Adachi sent these photos, and also gave this eyewitness account to The B-Town Blog:
I was working late last night/early this morning and saw 6 or 7 fire trucks pass my house on SW 170th St and 21st SW at between 12:30am and 1am. After a bit I could see the flashing lights stop, so I took a walk down the hill and ran into camera crews from channel 7 and channel 4 and saw multiple trucks and aid units from Port of Seattle, Normandy Park, Burien, SeaTac, and North Highline. With so many fire crews on the scene, I thought it must be a really big fire, but as I asked the camera crews they said it was just a few dead chickens and a burnt out shed and chicken coop.As we gather more information, we’ll update this post… Here are some relevant Tweets:
Chicken coup fire in Normandy Park #liveonkomo pic.twitter.com/JsBMGWz6Q9
— Thomas Lin (@TLinkomo4) February 9, 2016
Homeowners were unaware their chicken coupe was on fire.The shed in Normandy Park is all gone, possibly from heaters pic.twitter.com/D1bFxVSDes — Jeff Ritter (@RitterKIRO7) February 9, 2016]]>
But in all seriousness, I’m glad it didn’t hurt any people or nearby homes. Better to have too many firetrucks show up than not enough. Wonder how it started.
Heat lamps in coops are unnecessary here. My chickens never have one and thrive.