Former family chicken farm goes up in flames north of Beaumont

Scores of firefighters responded to a blaze just south of Edmonton Sunday evening that broke out at what used to be a family chicken farm.

Firefighters were first called to the fire at the rural property at about 6:45 p.m. Sunday, on the rural property about one kilometre north of Beaumont, on Highway 814.

Crews arrived to find a structure fully involved – the fire spread to other buildings on the property.

Officials said more than 40 firefighters from Leduc County Fire Services, along with crews from the Town of Beaumont, City of Leduc, the Edmonton International Airport and City of Edmonton responded – working through the night until about 4 a.m. Monday to get the blaze under control.

A number of buildings may have been destroyed by the massive blaze. Fire crews said nobody was hurt, although multiple tenants were on site when the fire broke out, they escaped unharmed – and firefighters were able to save neighbouring properties.

Witnesses say the buildings belong to a family who used to run "Villetard's Eggs" – Travis Villetard told CTV News his father was devastated by the fire.

“Dad’s pretty upset,” Villetard said. “He and my grandpa built everything here.”

Officials say the family was transitioning businesses and the property was being used for storage.

By late Monday evening, crews were still on the scene to put out smouldering hot spots.

Investigators have been to the scene, and said they had determined where the fire started but the cause of the fire was not known, along with a property damage estimate.

With files from Susan Amerongen