A local poultry producer lost one of two chicken houses in a Wednesday afternoon fire.

Opp Fire Chief Cory Spurlin said the Opp Fire Department was called to Reeves Road off of Hwy. 331 around 5:30 p.m.

“Once we arrived on scene it was a property with two poultry layer houses on it,” he said. “Three-quarters of house No. 1 was well involved when we got there.”

Spurlin said that fire fighters were able to get ahead of the fire and make a stop.

“We actually cut the walls out,” he said. “We got with the owner and the poultry company and we got permission to cut the walls out. We used a back hoe and drug the equipment out and were able to get a fire break.”

Spurlin said they did that to ensure if the fire caught back up over night that it wouldn’t get past the break and jump to the second house.

“House No. 2 and the work station part of it was all saved,” he said. “They never lost power on house No. 2. They kept working it.”

Spurlin said house No. 1 was a total loss.

“They had birds in there,” he said.

The cause of the fire is undetermined at this time, Spurlin said.

“When we got there it was too involved,” he said.

Spurlin said fire fighters fought the fire for approximately 2.5 hours.

“We also had assistance from Onycha and Babbie,” he said.