A fire at a Draper Valley Farms-owned facility Monday night killed about 14,000 2-week-old chickens.
Company spokesman Bill See said the fire started in one of the farm’s chicken houses at a facility on River Bend Road.
No injuries to people were reported, Mount Vernon Fire Chief Bryan Brice said.
Firefighters were called at 6:30 p.m. Monday, and Brice said the fire took about 45 minutes to get under control because of difficulty accessing the structure.
Firefighters needed to carry about 1,600 feet of fire hose along a muddy access road from the nearest fire hydrants, which slowed them down, he said.
In addition to Mount Vernon, he said the Burlington Fire Department and Skagit County Fire Districts 2 and 3 responded.
The investigation into the cause of the fire is being led by Burlington Fire Marshal Kelly Blaine.