Post by Logan on Jan 30, 2016 17:22:29 GMT -6
LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — A massive fire destroyed a 70-year-old beef cattle auction business in Lexington on Saturday, churning up a plume of thick, black smoke that darkened the skies for miles as the wind-whipped flames consumed several nearby businesses.
No one was injured in the fire that destroyed seven acres of the stockyards operated by the Blue Grass Livestock Marketing Group. But Chief Operating Officer Jim Akers said he did not see how the 20 beef cattle in the facility could have survived.
Firefighters were alerted to the fire at 2:20 p.m. and quickly called for backup as the smoke billowed through the streets near busy Leestown Road. Fire officials warned anyone living within a half mile of the fire to stay inside and turn off their heading and air conditioning units to keep the smoke out of their homes.
At least 120 firefighters battled the blaze for several hours Saturday afternoon in a wooden structure that Interim Fire Chief Harold Hoskins compared to "a standing lumber yard."
Read more: bigstory.ap.org/article/0b9847fca8d844aba7c01dd1cd7db727/official-large-fire-stockyard-complex-kentucky
No one was injured in the fire that destroyed seven acres of the stockyards operated by the Blue Grass Livestock Marketing Group. But Chief Operating Officer Jim Akers said he did not see how the 20 beef cattle in the facility could have survived.
Firefighters were alerted to the fire at 2:20 p.m. and quickly called for backup as the smoke billowed through the streets near busy Leestown Road. Fire officials warned anyone living within a half mile of the fire to stay inside and turn off their heading and air conditioning units to keep the smoke out of their homes.
At least 120 firefighters battled the blaze for several hours Saturday afternoon in a wooden structure that Interim Fire Chief Harold Hoskins compared to "a standing lumber yard."
Read more: bigstory.ap.org/article/0b9847fca8d844aba7c01dd1cd7db727/official-large-fire-stockyard-complex-kentucky