CHASE, Kan. (KSNW) – Thousands of chickens are dead after a fire at a central Kansas business.

Flames ignited Wednesday afternoon in an egg-laying house at Cal-Maine Foods in Rice County.

That house could hold up to 80,000 birds. The assistant fire chief says this is not the first time they have put out a fire at the plant.

“We’ve had several fires there in the past 15 years,” admits Brad Reid, Rice County Assistant Fire Chief. “We had another fire to the east of that facility on the organic side last year that burnt up a pulit house.”

The cause of the fire is still under investigation. No employees or firefighters were hurt.

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