A fire broke out at Mountaire Farms’ chicken processing plant in Selbyville on Monday. The rooftop fire was reported around 3:45 p.m. on Monday, April 23.  The Selbyville Volunteer Fire Company, with the assistance of a handful of other local companies, responded to the scene to find fire and heavy black smoke showing from the third-floor exterior with a potential for exposure to nearby ammonia tanks.

Firefighters worked to put out the fire while keeping the chemical tanks cool and brought the blaze under control around 5:50 p.m. The facility was in operation at the time but no injuries were reported. The plant was closed on Tuesday as crews continued to survey the area, but crews are working as swiftly as possible to get the plant back up and running again so employees can get back to work.

“A plant like this, there is a lot of different chemicals, ammonia being the big concern, so they want to check and make sure there was in fact no ammonia leaks at this point in time.  We don’t have any release of ammonia, “said Selbyville Fire Department Chief Matthew Sliwa. “What we’re getting from the Mountaire engineering staff is that they think the transformer had exploded and started the fire.”

Total damage was estimated at $500,000.