Community reacts to aftermath of Feather Crest Farms fire

BRAZOS COUNTY, Texas (KBTX) – Smoke continued to hang in the air at Feather Crest Farms Tuesday, but it’s a big difference from how things looked Monday evening.

Monday morning, CEO Sam Krouse shared a statement, which said that one of the structures destroyed in the fire did contain live chickens.

Around a hundred first responders from multiple counties were on the scene when the fire initially broke out.

Deputy Emergency Management Coordinator Jason Ware said that crews have continued to monitor the smoldering buildings, including checking the air quality for carbon monoxide.

At this time, there aren’t any major concerns for nearby residents.

A big thank you to @asherdipps who shared this new footage with us today showing the aftermath of the fire at Feather Crest Farms near Kurten.

Today officials confirmed two buildings were destroyed and chickens perished, but we still don’t know what started the blaze. pic.twitter.com/OELUUlv21M

— 🚨 Rusty Surette 🚨 (@KBTXRusty) January 31, 2024

“Rest assured for right now, with the, with the wind and the warm temperatures, the smoke is continuing to rise,” he said.

Ware added that the response to the fire ran smoothly, but crews did have to leave the scene in order to refill their water supply. The nearest fire hydrants were located at a gas station close to the farm.

“When you have multiple tankers, or tenders as they call them, water trucks essentially, then it works out very well because we can keep it on a revolving door,” he said.

The Red Cross was on standby in the event nearby residents needed to evacuate, but they were not dispatched to the scene.

One community member, who watched the fire from the side of Highway 21, said he was ‘shocked’ by what he saw.

”It’s probably the biggest fire that I’ve ever seen,” Landon Dane said, “I was hoping no one was injured or anything like that, but it was really amazing to see the fire trucks coming and going.“

A local teen captured footage of the fire on his drone, which KBTX aired in a newscast. Asher Dipprey, 15, says he was in the car with his parents when he saw the cloud of smoke.

He quickly pulled over to deploy his drone, which he said he was worried would catch on fire.

However, the video he captured made the risk worth it.

”It seems huge and then whenever you see the trucks and stuff next to it, it seems even bigger. And it was a little scary because, you know, heat rises so I don’t want the drone to get caught in there,” Dipprey said.

The investigation into the cause of the fire is ongoing. Dane remarked that he is hoping answers come soon.

“It’s really shocking to see it burn, burn to the ground. I’m really curious to see the, you know, what kind of reports to come out on what caused it,” he said.