PRINCESS ANNE, MD - The Office of the State Fire Marshal is investigating a chicken house and vehicle fire that occurred in Somerset County on Friday.
The Maryland Office of the State Fire Marshal says the incident occurred on Petes Hill Rd in Princess Anne around 1:30pm on Friday.
The property owner of the chicken house initially received a "system trouble alarm" at approximately 12:00pm. Fire officials say no one was on the property at that time and that the owner returned an hour later to find "a chicken house to have burned and collapsed to the ground."
The owner tried to prevent the fire from spreading to a second chicken house before he and his vehicle were "overtaken by fire".
According to the Office of the State Fire Marshal, it took 30 firefighters 45 minutes to control the incident. Firefighters contained the fire to two chicken houses and the owner's vehicle.
The fire resulted in the death of about 41,000 chickens between the two houses. The estimated loss as a result of the fire is $200,000.
The origin and preliminary cause are being investigated by the Maryland Office of the State Fire Marshal.