November 26, 2008	Wednesday	Ziqa'ad 27, 1429

KARACHI, Nov 25: Five thousand chicks were burnt to death when a fire broke out at a poultry farm in Steel Town on Tuesday.

This was the third incident of fire at a poultry farm within a month. The latest fire was caused by sparks from a mud oven filled with smoldering coal placed inside the farm to keep the chicks warm.

Dr Zafar-ul-Islam Siddiqui, the poultry farm owner, told Dawn that he lost 5,000 five-week-old broiler chicks when the fire broke out in one of the sections of his poultry farm at about 4.30am. Due to the timely intervention of fire brigade staff, around 15,000 chicks were saved.

According to him, it’s a usual occurrence as the weather gets extremely dry with the onset of winter. “Often the smoldering wood or coal placed inside the huts to keep chicks warm lead to fires in poultry farms,” he said, citing poor management by illiterate staff as the main reason behind such incidents.

Talking to Dawn, Abdul Maroof Siddiqui of the Pakistan Poultry Association said that this was the third incident of fire at a poultry farm within 30 days, which was a record. The past two incidents were caused by a short circuit in which around 18,000 birds perished.

“This is the first time that three fire incidents have been reported within a month. I lost 10,000 layer birds recently due to a short circuit at my Pipri farm,” Mr Maroof said, adding that fires spread rapidly at poultry farms as most of them were covered with straws.

However, he said that farmers never received any compensation from the government in such cases.

Dr Akbar Ali Soomro, Director Poultry Research Institute, was not aware of any of the incidents and said investigation of such cases was not the responsibility of his department.

“Poultry farmers don’t cooperate with the government and fear to get registered that is why such cases go unreported.”