There were seven major farm fires in the United States over a recent 10-day period.
In the big picture, they were for the most part relatively small-scale events. But with reports of so many fires at food production facilities, you can’t help but notice.
Coincidence? It could be. But it does get your attention.
A barn in Hanover Township, Ohio, burned Monday. Officials initially were concerned that a person was in the burning structure but found no people or animals inside, according to the Butler County Journal-News.
Saturday was a North Smithfield, Rhode Island, horse farm fire. Thankfully, none of the 40 horses was injured, but it was the second fire at the site in two days – a blaze Thursday destroyed a horse ring, WJAR-TV in Providence reported.
Also Saturday was a multialarm fire at an empty barn in Cedarville, New York, according to WKTV-TV in Utica.
That night, tens of thousands of chickens died in a fire at an egg production facility in Wright County, Minnesota, WCCO-TV in Minneapolis said.
On Friday, some 70 dairy cows escaped when their barn in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, caught fire, and they had to be rounded up to avoid being hit by fire equipment, according to the Express-Times in Lehigh Valley.
More tragic was a May 28 fire in Laveen, Arizona, southwest of Phoenix, that killed more than a hundred animals, including chickens, goats and sheep plus two dogs, KNPX-TV reported.
Seven fires at six facilities between May 28 and Monday?
Of course, given the number of house and other fires around the country in a short amount of time, perhaps the farm incidents are no big deal, except, of course, for the affected property owners.
Indeed, some of the blazes were intense, as at the horse farm in Rhode Island and the egg farm in Minnesota.
And tragic, as happened to a Phoenix family with the loss of their animals.
Maybe we’re noticing these things more because we are subjected to the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon, also called “red car syndrome,” according to Healthline. You decide to buy a red car and the next thing you know, you see red cars everywhere. It’s not that there are more red cars on the road now — you notice them because you are thinking of buying one.
Perhaps we’re sensitive to farm fires because it’s hard to dismiss recent fires at food production plants around the country.
And even in that we might be subjective in our judgment.
A report by “Facts Matter with Roman Balmakov” indicated that some of the social media postings regarding food processing plant fires, believed to be concerned with this year, actually showed events in 2020 and 2021.
It also said there have been no reports of arson, and the types of plants affected have ranged from food production facilities to a nonprofit charity warehouse — none of which is critical to overall food distribution.
In addition, because there are so many food production facilities, Balmakov indicated there are, in effect, plenty of facilities to take up the slack for damaged plants.
Balmakov said the only federal warnings regarding the food supply to date have come from the FBI’s concern about ransomware being used in agricultural-based computers.
Nevertheless, we have had warnings about fertilizer shortages, and there are problems throughout the supply chain, including railroad food transportation capabilities.
In light of all this, we can’t help but notice when there’s a potential glitch in getting foodstuffs to us.
Even if it’s as simple as someone’s barn burning down.
Story cited here.
